C-Sex 2 : In Search of Shelter
by Bryoche
Summary: WORK IN PROGRESS : I am currently working on this story at this time. 3/6 Chapters are complete. This is the continuation of the story "C-Sex : Blue & Red" featuring the same duo of character. Set during the events of Mass Effect 3, in between the Cerberus Coup and the Fall of Thessia, this is the story of a human meeting back with his alien lover. Chapter 3 of this story is NSFW !
1. Prologue

**Human Male (Ex-C-Sec Lieutenant) / Turian Female (C-Sec Lieutenant)**

 **C-Sex 2 : In Search of Shelter**

 **by Brioche/Bryoche**

 **Prologue - Threshold**

"What am I doing here?" he mumbled to himself, a scowling grimace shadowing his face. His hand was still hovering over the intercom switch, frozen in time as a storm of conflicting emotions roiled inside skull. Why, again, did he think it would be a good idea to come all the way here? Why was he so set on seeing _her_ again, just to tell her goodbye, after all this time? What was he expecting of her... or of himself?

Knowing her, she wouldn't take the purpose of his visit well. She was going to be disappointed, angry, or a mix of both. There was going to be some yelling and screaming involved too, and worst case scenario, he would go to the Citadel Space Transit with a black eye and a few bruises. Why, he asked himself again, would he face his old flame just to bid her goodbye? It would be better for everyone involved if he would just leave in silence and let things run their course. Yes, that was the best course of action. Meeting her wasn't worth the trouble, it would be so simple to just step back from her doorstep. So simple to turn around and walk away, never to see her again. After all, he was never good at saying goodbye, it wouldn't prove too difficult to bury some regrets under a few good bottles of brandy.

But here he was, stuck in place in front of the steel frame of her door like some deranged mime that forgot how to act. One hand seemingly stuck just a few inches from the "Call" prompt on the orange holographic screen, the other rubbing his eyebrow arches in deep circles. The strap of his backpack dug into his shoulder, as if to add a physical and palpable weight to his difficult predicament. "Come on, you idiot, just push the damn button or you're going to regret it forever." he heard himself grumble. "Either forget about her or push the button. Be a man, don't be a coward."

Yet he didn't budge.

Part of him was... Afraid. Of seeing her face again, of being judged by her, of the doubts that could cloud his mind if he saw her again. And maybe, just maybe, he could be scared of the _hope_ that meeting her could bring.

Who in the galaxy didn't have regrets, after all? Better to have regrets than remorse, and he knew he could -probably- live peacefully knowing he left the Citadel like a thief in the dead of night, alone and without saying goodbye to any of his acquaintances.

Was saying your goodbyes to someone you loved really that hard?

He grimaced, shuffled his shoulders around the uncomfortable synthetic strap and still didn't pushed the button. Glancing to the side through his fingers, he watched the shimmer of the hovering cars shooting through the bright neon-lit street, a low, ghostly hum followed each one, barely audible through the thick glass frame of the hallway. He briefly took on the sights and sound of the busy street, diverting his attention away from his infertile mullings as he watched passerbys coming and going across the avenue. Each and everyone going around their own little lives, despite the refugees coming in droves from faraway systems, despite the bad news spewed daily by tired-looking newscaster, despite the absurdity of associating planets with words like "under siege", "occupied" or the ever devastatingly simply... "Lost".

He breathed in deeply, relaxing his shoulders as he straightened his hunched stance. For a moment, he considered turning back and giving up on ever seeing her again. He even managed to muster the will to turn his back to her door and walk away. All that was needed was for him to pry his stupid hand from her intercom. A simple, barely mentionable effort to be made...

"Ah, screw it."

His thumb crushed down on the "Call" button, and a loud electronic buzz resounded from behind the steel frame of the door. He snickered to himself as he twisted his tired arm and wrist around, wouldn't it be a shame if she wasn't even home, after all? All that waiting and drama, just for him to be waiting in front of an empty flat. He absent-mindedly adjusted his stance and clothes, passing a hand over the crease of his C-Sec branded black hoodie and fidgeting with the zipper. He barely registered the sound of steps approaching as he shuffled the strap of his bag onto his opposite shoulder. The steps stopped just behind the door, and he craned his head backward to look at the spyhole camera before giving it his widest grin. Like a comedian putting on a mask before going on the stage, here he was, burying months of frustrations and worry to appear as cheeky and cheery as everyone knew him to be, as _she_ knew him to be. He opened his mouth to say his opening line, but a loud whizz cut him short : the wide steel frame of her door opened apart briskly to reveal a tall and very surprised turian.

Her mouth opened a little as her mandibles jittered slightly ajar, expressing clear shock at seeing him again. Her green cat-like eyes quickly darted around his figure, as if she was searching for a minute detail on his face, her startled look quickly changing to a somewhat restrained joy. Amused and touched by her reaction, he couldn't stifle the chuckle that escaped his lips.

"What is it? Never saw a ghost before?"

She was about to reach out to touch or embrace him, but his word stopped her hand in mid-air, her slender taloned three fingers wiggling awkwardly at him.

"What?" she blurted, frowning harshly at him.

"Hello you. Long time no see." he immediately parried with a cheeky grin.

A pause, then a heavy sigh, and her high shoulders finally relaxed a little. Her raised arm fell to her side and she looked down at him, mandibles shut tightly against her jaw as her curved mouth giving the hint of a smile.

"Hello." she softly said. "Long time no see."

They looked at each others in silence for a few moment, but for him, he was already brought back a months ago. The simple sight of her memorable streak of red warpaint across her alien mask-like features was enough to trigger this encroaching feeling of longness and comfort that he didn't know he forgot. Good, warm and even cuddly memories. Her discreet smile and gentle attitude already threatened to shatter his hard-thought resolution, and he felt that what he planned to do coming here was going to be harder than he ever thought it would.

He swallowed hard, hiding behind a jolly "How are you holding up?"

"Tired. Exhausted. And worst of all : I'm all out of Tupari." she answered without breaking her smile. "What about you? You should have told me you were coming, I'd have prepared something for you."

"I was walking around the Ward, figured I could stop by to check on you." he lied, "Been pretty tired and exhausted myself as well, but you know..."

"Life goes on?"

"Life goes on."

"One step after the other?"

He chuckled, "One step after the other."

He knew that both of them just kept repeating this empty, phony sentence over and over without really believing it. That's the only way one could cope and go on, one step after the other, day after day, while the whole galaxy burned around them. Crossing her arms together, she narrowed her alien eyes on him, quickly darting downward from his face. Her mandibles clicked slightly in an almost imperceptible quiver. "You look like you lost weight."

"Didn't noticed so meself, but I'd believe you. And you look like..."

He scratched his scruffy beard, grimacing as he looked for something wrong in his alien friend's appearance to tease her over. She was still her usual turian self : tall, lanky, spiky. As is the lot of most turians, her mask-like bony face was seemingly locked in a perpetual stern expression, even when she smiled and relaxed. He noticed that the otherwise vibrant red streak of warpaint that crossed over her flat nose and tall cheekbones was looking a tad bit duller and slimmer. Her left brow was also seemingly damaged : a few impacts dotted the porous bone-like plate, revealing patches of drab, leathery scar tissue underneath. She furrowed her brow as he scanned her familiar, yet still alien face, not really appreciating being stared at for that long.

"You look like you'd be in need for a fresh coat of red paint now, innit?"

"Humpf!" she scoffed, indignant. "Not two minutes in and you're already being rude, how typically _human_ of you."

He chuckled heartily at her reaction. It was good to meet her again, before putting this little plan of his into action. He smiled at her, but his eyes seemingly showed his true melancolic colors. Her expression hardened, brow furrowing and eyes squinting in an accusatory glare. She didn't seem to buy his cheery and cheeky demeanor, as if she could see the gloom that inhabited him. A nervous shiver traveled through his spine. For a turian all bent on rigorous discipline and the all mighty sense of duty, she was always surprisingly clairvoyant when it came to reading people's emotion. Or maybe he was easy to read. She always seemed to see right through him back when both of them were _a thing._

 _Feels like a lifetime ago._

"How long has it been?" she asked, her tall and slender figure slouching lazily on the doorway. "Since, you know..."

"I was wondering the same thing." he muttered, absentmindedly scratching at his cropped hair. "I know we talked through Extranet some... long time ago... But the last time we met each others face to face? I 'unno."

She hummed, "Can't be that long now, can it?"

He thought hard about it, but could only give a curt answer. "Both of us got the short end of the stick when it came down to emergency transfers and reinforcements. I got the Zakera Ward and Lower Docks job."

"Guard duty at Huerta Hospital and around the Presidium on my end."

He winced, inadvertently remembering how many friends and colleagues got sent to Huerta Memorial Hospital, lying on a stretcher instead of guarding some big-eyed salarian doctors. "Intensive care?"

"No, thankfully. They had enough guards there." she blurted out in apparent relief. "I was actually watching over the room of that famous turian general that was stabbed, you know the one?"

"Wasn't he the one that got poisoned during...?"

"This very one. Recovered thanks to some kind of antidote given by an anonymous donor. I was beside his door when they woke him up."

"Lucky guy."

"Indeed. Not everyone got so lucky during the..."

Her flanged voice trailed off and died down in a whisper. Emotional scars ran deep, and the simple fact of referencing what happened on that fateful day, when white and gold uniforms shook the core of the Citadel, bringing with them the war and ruin that consumed the rest of the galaxy.

C-Sec and its members got bled dry that day. Stabbed in the back, shot through the heart and left scrambling to save what could be saved. Nobody left that day unscathed, not even the survivors, it was a wake-up call to make them realize that -even during a doomsday scenario of galactic-wide extinction- terrorists, fanatics and murderers were still operating just under their nose. He remembered the chaotic aftermath. Counting the wounded while licking your own wounds. He remembered reading through the long, _terrifyingly_ long obituaries. Searching for the names of absent friends, of missing colleagues, of simple acquaintances sometimes.

Searching in the hope of never finding what he was looking for.

Searching for _her name_.

He grimaced, the sour taste of that anguish still fresh in his mind. "We didn't see each others face to face since before the _Coup_ , innit?"

Her solemn visage shook from side to side. "No. I don't think so."

"That long?" he murmured in disbelief.

"Too long." she gently whispered back.

"Damn."

She sighed heavily, her gaze dropping low and far-off for just a moment before she straightened her stance and lifted her chin up. She nodded towards the strap on his shoulder, before slightly frowning at him. "Didn't hear anything from you for a while now, what are you up to?"

She was already onto him. He grinned widely, trying his best to look as self-assured and cocky as he thought she always knew him to be. "Ain't you a little curious now?"

"Come on. For what do I owe the pleasure of seeing you on my doorstep?" she retorted with a mocking snicker that opened her mandibles wide, making the previously gloomy atmosphere disappear.

Seeing her smile made him swallow hard. Part of him wanted to keep her smiling a little longer, a little wider.

There was no use telling her everything right now, on the threshold of the very place where both of them shared a lot of happy memories.

No use turning those happy memories into bittersweet ones yet.

"Bribe me." he joked, craning his head backward in playful defiance.

She gently tapped the tip of her talon on her chin, raising an eyebrow plate at him. "Maybe, just maybe, I still have something a _levo_ like you could drink without passing out."

"I thought you were all out of Tupari."

"Maybe I lied."

"So?"

"So what?" she teased, seemingly content in making him wait for her invitation.

"So when are you going to invite me to your damn flat?" he retorted with a grin. Her mandibles clicked, and she swiftly spun on her heels to give passage.

"I thought you'd never ask." she threw over her shoulder. "Come, no use staying on the doorstep like a lost pyjaak."

He watched her moving away further into her apartment, but he still didn't budge from from her doorway. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, letting the familiar perfume of her place fill his lungs, bringing with it the memories of comfortable, warm and oblivious times. He already failed at saying his goodbyes without even realizing it, and now he's going to dig his own grave deeper and deeper for each minute he spends in her home, in her company. He felt like he was on the brink of something bigger than he anticipated, something that would probably wreck both their minds and hearts if he didn't lie about the purpose of his visit, about the truth of that little plan of his.

It was a terrible tragedy in the making, and he was going to go full steam ahead, for the simple sake of hearing her voice a few minutes more.

Better to have remorse than regrets, right?

With a heavy sigh, he lifted his leg and passed through the threshold of her apartment, a familiar feeling of comfort slowly curdling into an acidic apprehension of what would happen next.


	2. Part II : Heat

**Part II - Heat**

Her apartment looked almost precisely how he remembered it, and each element of furniture seemed to be inhabited -or haunted- by some kind of distant memory. Here was the low coffee table that saw many colorful drinks being spilled on its wooden surface, the dry marks now covered by an assortment of translucent datapads and a couple of metallic empty Tupari cans. Around it was the soft and wide white sofa that welcomed him and a some friends on a few drunken, comatose nights; in front of it was the low, square ottoman that served as _her_ little personal rostrum to watch over the intoxicated and haggard in silent disapproval. Dominating the sidewall was the grand window, that let the vibrant neon lights of the Ward shower inside the room, except for a far-off part that was covered with a large blue tarp.

The moment he noticed the tarpaulin was also the moment he noticed the subtle cracks on the window, spreading as an elongated lightning-shaped scar along the entire transparent panel, and the blackened scorch marks extending on the ground and ceiling. He could hear the sound of the Ward below filtering through the heavy-duty sheet, and the entire room was slightly... "dustier" that he remembered it.

A broken window was all it took to give her otherwise familiar apartment an otherworldly look. It felt like the place was dented or exhausted, replacing the usual welcoming warmth with a quaint, somewhat ominous atmosphere.

He frowned, briefly wondering why she never moved out from this place. Surely she would mind dented steel and broken glass in her living room.

"Please, come in." she called, arms crossed in front of her and looking to some extent vexed at his reaction. "Don't mind the mess, it became pretty hard to dust the place."

He slid the strap of his bag off his shoulder and let it fall loudly on the floor. "Oh really, I wonder why?" he teased with a smirk as he walked toward her, looking directly at the broken part of the window. "Don't worry about it."

Her mandible tightened slightly as she sharply inhaled, but her general bearing relaxed a bit. "Alright, why don't you sit down while I grab you something to drink?"

He smiled gently and nodded, "Sure, and sorry to intrude."

She smiled and shook her head, "Don't apologize if there is nothing to apologize for. You'll always be welcome here." She then leaned her head slightly to the side, silently directing him to go sit on the big couch, and walked towards the kitchen area. "Make yourself at home. Do you want to drink something?"

"Why not? What do you have?"

"I'll go check if I have something that won't kill you when you drink it." she teased without breaking a smile.

"Here's hoping." he cheered before stepping toward the familiar white sofa, leaving her to walk behind him to the other side of the apartment.

Happy to comply to her invitation, he let all his weight noisily collapse backward into the soft fabric in an ungraceful arc. A content groan escaped his throat as he took his ease and pushed his back deeper into the seat, making the couch groan and creak in protest. He closed down his eyes, taking a deep breath as a few awash visions and memories suddenly crash down inside his mind, like the unrelenting sea could conquer even the sturdier cliff. He couldn't resist the threads of a more peaceful, strangely distant past slowly unwinding under the darkness of his eyelids.

He remembered the merry drunken benders with the rest of the C-Sec squad.

He remembered her sharp green eyes looking at him, her expression always oscillating between quiet affection and aloof stoicism.

He remembered learning about Earth, Arcturus and the Second Fleet, sitting here, and the feeling of powerlessness, of despair, of having his heart stabbed right out of his chest as the unthinkable happened right in front of his eyes.

He remembered missing this place. Somewhere where he felt he belonged.

He remembered the far taste of her kiss, the warmth of her embrace and the saccharine sound of her sighs when they made love, right on this spot.

"Do you like tea?"

Her voice resounded in the apartment and took him by surprise, making his heart skip a little. He opened his eyes and suddenly jolted forward, narrowly escaping the creeping tendrils of this bittersweet yearning.

"Yes, sure, tea." he stammered loudly. "You have tea? I love tea."

"That's great. Give me a minute to make you some then." she answered before loudly rummaging through her cupboards.

His breath was ragged, as if he woke up from a nightmare, and his eyes quickly paced across the nearby table, looking for anything that could distract his mind from the pervasive effect of pleasant remembrance. The longer he would allow himself to wallow in nostalgia here, the harder and harsher the feeling would be when the time to leave it behind came.

A pile of magazines quickly caught his attention, and he thoughtlessly took the first one to read through the cover. A popular turian review -some would say pamphlet- about turian-made guns, human-made guns and also... Guns. On the cover was a grim-looking turian man, holding what seemed to be the newest iteration of the Phaeston assault rifle, and pointing it to the side. An article called " _Post-action report: Battle at Menae_ " was prominently displayed on the front. He discarded the booklet with a bored sigh.

The next magazine proved to be a surprise: it was an art catalogue about human and Earth culture, written by a turian xeno-specialist. On the front page was a half-naked, beautiful human girl frozen in an impressive contortion, her slender body covered in a greyish ash-like make-up, giving her a ghostly appearance. He didn't recognize her name on the article, but the name of her show, " _From the Ashes, rises the Light",_ strangely resonated inside his mind. With a frown, he put the magazine back on the table.

That's when he noticed the dull orange glow of the datapad, which was previously buried under the synthetic paper books. He instantly recognized the layout displayed on the holographic screen.

A medical report. With her name assigned to it.

He craned his neck on the side to read, curiosity and an odd sense of worry tugging him to investigate something he should not. He was about to turn the datapad towards him when a flanged voice rang right behind him.

"Tea's ready."

His hand withdrew in a jerk, as if he just touched a burning coal, and was left hanging awkwardly in mid-air. She stopped in her track right beside him, giving him him an inquisitorial look and cocking her head slightly on the side, as if she was studying some primitive lifeform. He sighed and exhaled, shoulders slumped and a defeated expression on his face. He resolved to stop being nosy, or at least not hide it from her. She shook her head as a discreet, almost imperceptible smile curved along the edges of her lipless mouth.

She put down in front of him a high white cup in which was resting a copper-golden liquid that gave off a fragrant steam. Tiny minced herbs of various shades of green and black were still swirling in the tea, and its aroma already promised a lush, malty body. Impressed, he gave her a slight nod and an approving hum as she sat across him, roosting on her usual ottoman with a content groan. Between her long hands was a metallic can of a garish purple color, covered in alien letters and adorned with a stylized silhouette of the Citadel. From what he knew about beverages, he guessed it was some kind of cheap Citadel-made turian soft drink.

"I didn't take _you_ for a tea expert." he goaded, "It's surprising."

She shrugged, "It's the only way I know to make tea for others : Heat the water, let the tea herbs fuse, add some oregano and spices for humans, grounded Mabari nuts for Salarians, cannis roots for Turians or Thessian Blue syrup for Asari." She lifted her chin and her mandibles clicked slightly, a small tinge of boastful pride in her flanged voice. "I'm no expert. I only know what I know."

"Oh really? And what else do you know?"

She thought about it for a few moment with a faint hum, but soon her expression hardened greatly. Her gaze and tone grew distant, and her shoulder slumped slightly as she rose her colorful soda can high in the air.

"I know that I haven't slept more than ten hours in the past week. I know that I will miss having the captain nipping at our heels, constantly up and about about "fraternization" and "casual unprofessionalism" ruining C-Sec ethic. I know that I saw an exotic green-skinned Asari inside Huerta's Hospital and thought that the Citadel couldn't get any stranger..."

Then, her eyes focused back on him, mandibles clicking once across her jaw.

"I know that the galaxy is burning right around us, but even that won't be enough to ruin sharing a drink with you."

The contrast between her somber elegy and the quirky, tacky design of her drink made him feel strangely nostalgic. A kind of bathos at seeing a scarred, tough-as-nails turian, in a ruined apartment filled with the memories of happier time, raising a glass of grape-flavored cheap dextro-cola as if she celebrating the honored dead. A melancholic smile splayed across his own face, and he raised his cup to meet her toast. After all, maybe they were, in fact, commemorating those very memories at this very moment.

"Cheers. To us then, and the end of the world." he said, blowing on his steamy tea before carefully dunking his lips in the almost-boiling brew.

Of course, he burned his tongue in an instant by trying to drink too fast. Like every time he tried to drink tea.

"Damn It! It's hot! Too hot! Ack-!" He huffed and puffed, wildly gesticulating as he barely managed to swallow, "It's good, but damn! It's hot!"

"I'm glad to see you again." she softly added, barely a whisper as he grumbled about, before taking a long sip from her drink.

"What did you say?"

"Nothing important." she teased with a click.

"Huh-uh..."

"So." she quipped, straightening herself, "It's been a while... How are you?"

He hummed and slightly winced. Not because of the burning sensation on the tip of his tongue, but because that was one subject he wished to avoid talking so soon with her.

"You first." he parried, thumbing over his shoulder to point at the broken, tarped-up window. "How did this happen?"

"Happened during the Coup." she said, her hard gaze going straight through him. "When Cerberus disappeared after their attempt on the Council, there was a civilian cargo-ship that got left inside the Arms without a dock to berth. They plowed right through it with a couple of torpedoes."

"Damn murderers." he muttered in kind.

"The wreck crashed down in the Ward, far from here, in an evacuated building. It left a lot of irradiated debris, flaming shrapnels and dust-formed eezo in its wake however. My place got struck by a stray titanium fuel tube while I was... _away_." She fell silent, her brow plates frowning deep over her eye sockets and her jaw clenched tightly shut. Nobody in C-Sec liked to talk about what happened that day, and the aftermath that followed. "Automated drones managed to quickly stop the fire from spreading, and the decontamination team cleaned most of the left-over eezo dust and radioactive material by the time I was released out of Huerta." she added, looking down at her can with a pained look on her face.

"Most of it?" he noticed, eyeing her carefully as he blew over his hot tea. "What do you mean? There's still traces of Element Zero all over your walls?"

"Barely."

"Dangerous of you to live in a contaminated area."

She snorted loudly, almost mockingly, and her mandibles slid across her long jaw. She rose her chin and looked at him straight in the eyes, "I have nowhere else to go. And besides, I don't spend much time home lately." she said matter-of-factly.

"Hm-mh..."

A sip and a grimace later, he smacked his lips before asking, almost jokingly, "Not getting that window repaired then?"

She silently shook her head sideways. He could guess that repairing the damage done to the Presidium would take priority over the Wards. He idly wondered if she'd ever see her apartment repaired in her lifetime, considering how quickly the war was creeping closer and closer to the Widow nebulae and the Citadel. He winced immediately at the intrusive thought.

 _A shame._

"Have you seen the news?" she asked, perking up on her ottoman and looking suddenly more energized. "About Palaven?"

"No?" he answered, frowning. "What happened?"

"Krogan reinforcements. Came in with the fleet led by the Indomitable and landed all around Palaven to assist the resistance. Word is that Resvirix is leading this operation personally, alongside the Urdnot's leadership."

She shuffled on her seat, bending her shoulders forward, and looked at him expectantly in the eyes. A spark of excitement kindled in her deep green gaze, alongside a glint of something more frightening. _Hope._

"You really didn't see the news report?" she enquired, scooting the ottoman closer to the sofa with a few hops, getting visibly excited as she talked. "They managed to show footage of a Palaven beach, with a big Reaper ship blowing up in the background and falling in the sea."

"Huh." he curtly droned. He'd never see her so lively. Ever.

"News channels are all talking about Palaven. I wish you had seen it. Burning ships falling off the shoulder of Menae, Krogans meeting with Turian resistance leaders, even the sunrise over the ocean..." she lowered her head, her mandibles opening slightly ajar as her curved mouth gave a faint smile. "It finally feels like a victory. No more defeats, no more retreats. Victory _..."_

She rolled the word over her tongue like she was savoring a rare sweet candy, "They're calling it a miracle." she continued, "But I wonder how many sacrifices had to be made, how much blood had to be spilled just to secure the loyalty of the Krogan clans. Tuchanka is still besieged after all."

"Loyalty?" he sneered, almost vindictively despite himself. "That's not a word you hear a lot when it's associated with Krogans, innit? As long as they're crushing skulls and breaking bones, they're a happy bunch, that's all. You'd be naive to think they're lending a hand to the turians willingly."

Her brow plates lowered in a irked frown, eyes turning hard and judgemental. He shifted tensely on his seat. She didn't seem to like his words much, but she stayed stoically silent.

"Look." he said, sipping lazily at his warm tea, "I'm glad, real glad that we're able to see Palaven gets some relief, to see Krogan and Turian hopping on together and taking names. You're a lucky gal, but..."

"But?" she quipped, mandibles clicking in frustration.

"But that's luck. Plain old luck. I wonder how long we're going to see the news talking about victories and holding grounds, because I don't believe it'll last. Luck will always run out, sooner or later."

She looked at him in annoyed bewilderment, as if he just played a game of _stab yourself in the thigh._ "Don't undermine those victories. Don't play the fool." she commanded, "You know that there's more to it than just... _luck._ "

He couldn't hold her intense gaze, some part of him feeling guilty at raining on her parade so maliciously. For all her previous exotic excitement, she could revert quickly to her usual dour and solemn self.

He sighed heavily, slumping his shoulders and pushing his back a little more against the cushions. "You're right." he coughed up bitterly. "I'm being an ass, but I think we should try to keep our expectations in check. For one more "miracle at Palaven" to happen, I wonder how many new Khar'shan or Arcturus we're gonna see."

He tensed up and grimaced, feeling a lump in his stomach at the mere evocation of the late space station. He idly looked at the gentle amber reflections waving on his tea, unable to suppress the mounting grief that was prickling at his throat. As for his turian friend, she seemed to perk up at his reaction, her irkings having been replacement by an odd look of worry.

"You know, my folks were on Arcturus back when it happened. By the time I learned about Earth, they were already gone." He couldn't help but chuckle bitterly, "Arcturus. Disintegrated. Just like that."

And just like that, the dam that held old and painful memories broke suddenly, letting a torrent of melancholia rush in like a crushing wave. No tears came to his eyes, it was mostly this crushing weight pushing against his heart.

He didn't even had the time to tell his mom goodbye.

She gave him a long, thoughtful look. Her mandibles twitched and opened wide, body language betraying her uneasiness.

"I'm... sorry." she blurted, visibly unsure on how to respond.

He crossed her confused stare, a sad smile still splayed across his face, and then simply shrugged, nonplussed and dispassionate.

"It's war. People die."

And with those simple, terrible words, he went back to sip at his hot, perfumed tea. His words rung so wrong to his ears but they felt heartbreakingly true. A mantra to keep repeating to oneself, again and again, to simply cope with the absurdity of the death toll of a galactic wide war.

A heavy and bleak silence fell between them, considerably souring the previously rosy and optimistic atmosphere. Both of them were simply looking quietly at the bottom of their drinks, as if they could find in them a bridge to throw over the growing rift that was widening between them.

"This war is like a black hole." she finally murmured, almost to herself at first. "Whatever we do, it seems we can't but revolve around it. Talk about it. Think about it. Live by it. Almost feels like we're trapped in its gravity well, and we're all fighting along the way."

"That's a pretty poetic way of describing it."

She looked at him from below, mandibles twitching slightly over her lax jaw. "You know, everyone seems to have a different way of enduring it. How they handle stress, anger, defeatism and the like."

Confronted by his silence, her voice grew more lively as she tried to lighten the mood.

"I've seen bumbling Volus merchants obsessed with banking on the refugees, trying to sell them crude souvenirs they pretended came from besieged planets. Heard about a turian arms dealer coming up to C-Sec to offer up four crates of contraband, illegal mods and experimental ammo. The other day, I saw an Asari spotting for a burly Krogan at the gym, not even trying to be subtle about flirting with him. There's also one of my Salarian friend, endlessly bugging me so that we can go and try earthling cuisine. Those _sushis_ of yours in particular."

He chuckled, imagining the scenes she describes. Spurred by his reaction, she shifted slightly forward, her long taloned finger shuffling restlessly on the steel can. "Do you like sushi? Maybe we could go out later today and... grab a bite. Together. If you're free, of course."

She adorably cleared her throat, and he felt his heart tighten at her gentle proposition. However, a small, sadistic part of him couldn't help but tease her over it. "Do you want to call your salarian friend? It'd be a shame if he missed out innit?"

Her mandibles quivered and she tensed greatly "Hrm. For old time's sake. I think that-... Huh. Hrm..."

As heartfelt and tempting her gentle invitation was and as much he'd like to spend a moment of peace and rest with this particular turian, he knew that following it would only lead to a harder, harsher and brutal end to their small tryst. He had to tell her about his plan, and the sooner the better. At least, that way, he wouldn't feel bad about leading her on with false promises.

At least, that way, he would maybe leave her on good terms.

He looked at the table, searching for something to distract and divert the flow of the conversation to somewhere less bittersweet. The discarded datapad, a medical report with her name on it, caught his attention.

"Seems like you have a lot of free time on your end." he innocently parried before nodding toward the low table, "Does it have something to do with that medical report? I didn't read it, but... Is everything okay?"

"Oh." she simply exhaled, mandibles quivering slightly ajar. "It's mine. Yes."

She lifted a finger to idly scratch at the back of her neck, letting out a low grumble as she seemed to struggle to find the right words. "About three days ago, I collapsed in the middle of my patrol, around the 14th floor of Zakera's shopping arcade."

He tensed up on his seat, fingers tightening around the rim of his cup.

"Nothing major, my patrol partner brought me to a clinic and called the Doc. Said that I was pushing myself too hard. That I had quite the cocktail of sleep deprivation, high stress, muscular exhaustion and even slight dehydration."

"Sounds like everyone in C-Sec got those conditions... Except dehydration."

"True." she admitted with a sigh, "But I had a few friends smuggle me... _Hrm._ Military-grade Turian stimulants, the kind the Blackwatch use. I thought I could handle them and keep focused but... I couldn't. Doc gave me a long scolding and something to help cleanse my bloodstream, and the commander gave me a five day leave. Hopefully I can go back to the team soon."

She shuffled uncomfortably on her seat, eyes darting away on the side as she mumbled a feeble defense. "It's been quiet those past few days."

"You bloody wanker." He gripped without even raising his voice, eyes widening as worry set upon his heart like a vulture. "What's going in your noodle to have entertained the idea that you could survive on _mi-li-ta-ry_ grade stimulants? What was your next step? Stop sleeping entirely?"

"I-"

He shook his head wildly from side to side. "No no no. Don't try it with me. You know, I'm sure you know that it was a bad gamble from the start. Have you been stimmed for long?"

"Two weeks before I collapsed." she admitted between gritted teeth.

He grumbled in disapproval, jerking forward from the sofa to lay his tea cup on the cluttered table. "That's not healthy. Not healthy at all. Stimulants are not designed to be administered for the long run the way they royally mess up your biological functions. Didn't the Doc harp on you about using stims?"

"He did." she nodded stoically, not letting through any emotion.

"Any side effects?"

"Manageable."

"Tell me." he probed her with impatience.

"Insomnia, faster heartbeat, tremors and headaches. I still can't sleep through a straight full cycle." she mumbled, impassible.

He winced, his gut wrenching at the thought being absent while his friend suffered. Most of the C-Sec crew were already having short nights while being high on stimulants, but none were using anything out of their range.

"Look, I-... I'm not blaming you, but you've got to be careful, a'ight?" he began with a pleading gesture, crossing her unflinching gaze. "It's a real easy and dangerous vicious cycle to fall into. Everyone's so on edge nowadays, you won't need much of a push to see them fall over it, and it won't be pretty when it happens. Everybody has his or her own limits, _you_ included, so don't go around trying to save the world on your own, pumped out of your mind."

She didn't answer, but her mandibles twitched slightly open. She seemed to stoically accept the condemnation he was laying on her.

"Look around." he continued, gesturing emphatically to the window behind him, "Even your apartment has its own scars now, and putting tarp over them while pretending they don't exist will only lead to more broken glass. You said there was still traces of Eezo floating in the air? Same could be said about poison in your bloodstream, so don't go around minimizing your own limits. You've got to... You've-..."

He sighed and stopped before tensely scratching the back of his scalp. Surprised by the way worryness made him ramble on his stormy scolding, he felt slightly guilty about blaming her pushing herself while he was just running away from his problems. His voice fell low as he calmed down. "Just... Be careful, alright?" he appealed to her, "Take a break, take a nap, take a rest, anything really, but _pace yourself_. Take care of yourself, please."

She didn't answer immediately, letting the silence hang heavily in the air. Her head dipped, mandibles twitching on the side of her jaw, and she exhaled loudly in a tired sigh. "I've made a mistake. That much I know." she finally said, her tone defensive rather than guilty. "It's been hard for everyone in the team, and I feel like we're not seeing the end of our strife soon. And that is why I needed to keep up with everyone. To concentrate. To keep focus."

She craned her head upward, a distant look in her eyes.

"Keeping the team's cohesion has been so important, I've felt like falling behind would mean endangering everyone. Being careless would mean getting the one relying on you in danger. So I've been pushing myself, yes, further and further, for everyone's sake... And my own. By focusing on the tasks at hand, on the needs of the team, on my duty to the Citadel, I had something else to think about. It has been my way of handling _things._ Of coping with what is happening on Palaven, on the Citadel, in the rest of the galaxy. As vexing as it is to realize it, I failed my duty when my exhausted body failed me. And here I am, stuck in my home, bored and brooding."

She focused back on him, letting life sparkle back in her vivid gaze. The corner of her mouth slightly curved upward, hidden by the point of her mandible.

"Back when we were partners, you and your _idiotic_ , _primitive_ , _thickheaded_ jokes and quips had a strange way to put me at ease. I felt like I could rely on you to... in a way, look after me."

She frowned and glanced sideways before sharply looking downward at her own fidgeting hands and fingers. Then came a haunting murmur, faintly escaping through the edges of her sharp mouth.

"I've missed _that_ greatly."

Her gentle longing pierced through his heart like a hot blade through snow. It took him incommensurable effort to drive back the stirring emotion that scrambled his thoughts, to nail his body to the ground and quell the desire to go embrace and rekindle with his alien flame. He gritted his teeth and swallowed back his sentiments, grunting out a boorish and acid chortle.

"Looks like to me that you're just hiding behind the old Turian sense of duty." he bittingly mocked, guilt wracking him at the same time "Must be quite the catastrophe for you to pine for my antics, innit? You're delaying the inevitable if you don't begin to slow down the pace, you know. Sooner or later, responsibilities and team spirit be damned, you _are_ going to blow up and break if you don't actually take _care_ of yourself."

He winced, the venom of his words hurting him as much as he thought they would hurt her. He couldn't waver now, he shakily thought.

"Be selfish, for once." he added sharply. "You can't bear the weight of the entire galaxy's misery on your shoulders alone. You're only human after all."

He didn't notice his own mistake, preoccupied by the way she was looking at him with her hard, cold stare, jaw tightly clenched against her maxilla. It was the same look he remembered her to put on when she didn't believe the words coming out suspects they were questioning at the C-Sec station. She was clearly vexed and angry about him, and an intimidating dourness fell over her features, making him feel like shrinking before her piercing stare.

As if she could see straight through him, down to his bones.

"Then what about you?" she questioned, her voice like a steel chord "What have you been up to since I last heard about you? How have _you_ kept busy since we were last together? Slept through each day without a worry in the world?"

"No, I-"

"Did you joke and preach about your ways all the way through?"

"Huh?"

"Ah, maybe it was drinking yourself to a coma that gave you such insight?"

"H-hey, I-"

"Maybe some _fun_ and _relaxed_ parties at the Purgatory?"

"What ? I-"

"Oh? Is the Chora's Den more of you scene?"

His mouth was left half-open from her sudden harsh onslaught, caught off-guard by how irate she sounded. He averted his gaze from her, unable to withstand her accusing stare, and looked in the distance while he gathered his thoughts.

The mood soured terribly, and he was partly at fault for that. He deflected her every touching invitations and avowals with an aloof and coarse indifference. It probably took a toll on her pride to even _admit_ being glad to see him again, and he casually discarded her gesture over his shoulder, selfishly.

Because he couldn't bear feeling wanted by her again?

This wasn't how he imagined his reunion with her to turn out. He didn't want to leave a bitter impression on her, after so much time has passed.

It was probably time to stop lying to her and himself. To stop dancing around the opening grave before him. To face the music and stop being a coward.

"I couldn't." he whispered.

A sad, frightened smile crept up on his face, and as he turned his head to face her cold accusing stare, his voice came in with a hollow and bare tone.

"I've left C-Sec. I'm leaving the Citadel."

Her eyes darted around his face with the same inquisitorial harshness, looking for any traces of lying intent that would betray an ill-conceived prank, or a bad joke. He stayed quiet and smiling, and the silence stretched out in the air. Vexation in her eyes transformed into a slight panic as the truth of his words begun to sink in. Her hard, dour mask-like face began to crumple before him, mandible slacking open and eyebrow plate frowned into a stunned expression.

She seemed like she just had been deafened by the deflagration of his word, as if she was still having trouble processing what he told her.

"What?" she flatly asked, breaking the silence.

He stared vacantly at his tea mug as the words begun to swirl in his mind, pouring out of his lips in a steady stream without him realizing it.

"I just couldn't. Couldn't handle the bad news coming every day, the tears and pain of the refugees, having to settle disputes about water rations between people that already lost their planet. I couldn't handle finding another orphan kid dead in the vents, or begging for a few credits or some scrap of grey paste in some dingy back alley. I just couldn't. The war... Cerberus... Everything they brought in their wake was, I guess, too much for me to handle."

He frowned and snarled, part of him angry and rebelling at state of affairs.

"The betrayals. The absent friends. The restless nights. Having to stay vigilant, always, with that ball of fear gnawing at your stomach every day.

I realized it when I read about the Major eating his gun out of despair, a few days ago. What a mess, innit? But so very Turian to blow his brain out like he did. I don't want to finish like he did. I won't be another name on the wall."

He sucked on his teeth in anger, the crushing feeling of powerlessness that chained him slowly dissolving into a mounting and glacial anger. Focus went back into his eyes, and he looked back at her with renewed resolution.

"That's why I've quit. I won't be another name on the wall."

Her face was stuck in a frozen look of total and confused devastation. As if he just pushed a long knife in between her ribs, right through the heart, with every word another inch of cold steel digging deeper. Her mandibles were slacked down, jaw half-agape and eyebrow plate risen high in an overwhelmed expression.

"What?" she stuttered in a whisper, her surprise quickly morphing into something fiercer and more aggressive.

"I am planning on leaving the Citadel. The sooner, the better, I feel. Leave everything behind and-"

She rose from her seat, straight as a drawn blade and even sharper. A frantic ember burned in the depth of her eyes.

"What are you planning to do?"

Her voice was soft and uneven, betraying how livid she was. He knew her enough to know that she always went quiet when angry.

He sighed in irritation, searching in his mind for the follow up of this plan of his. It never went much further than _leave the Citadel and never return._

"I was born on Terra Nova." he mumbled, "Guess I'll go back there. Spend some time there then... I don't know. Get drunk, do some Red Sand off of some Asari's knockers, anything to forget about this damn war."

Disdain was now apparent on her features. She lifted her chin, closed her twitching mandibles tightly against her jaw, and looked down on him.

"Is that your whole _plan_!? Waste away in some cheap bar, drunk and sanded out of your mind? Check out the news then : Terra Nova is still being besieged. This is not the time to behave like this!"

"Then I'll go to Bekenstein." he answered sharply, "I don't care, and it doesn't matter where I go. I'm leaving to find cheap booze a-plenty and a peaceful way to awaits the end of the world, all langered and oblivious."

She stopped in the middle of a sudden lurching jerk, as if hammered by what what he just said. The small ridges on her flat nose grew wide as she inhaled deeply and she started to pace quickly behind the coffee table, barely restrained fury apparent in her every move.

"You're deserting?"

Her voice was but disdain and anger, and the choice of word rang odd to him. As if she was projecting a Turian mindset of undying loyalty to a lost cause to him.

"No, I am not _deserting._ " he repeated slowly, rolling out the word in a derisive way. "I am _leaving_ the Citadel because the war already reached us once and left us bleeding and beaten. I am _leaving_ because the war _will_ reach it once again, sooner and later, and everyone is still trying to be being blind about it. I am _leaving_ because we're fighting an unwinnable war against murderous invincible machines and brainwashed terrorists and we're sitting on a giant _fucking_ target."

A pause, a click of mandibles, and he resumed through clenched teeth.

"I am _leaving_ because I do not want to be here when the Reapers or Cerberus come back to finish what they started, and bring all the lambs to slaughter."

She finally stopped in her tracks and slightly turned her shoulders toward him, craning her neck slightly away as if she was studying some primitive, disgusting and idiotic lifeform. Her mandibles drooped to unveil a row of menacing dagger-like teeth, and her flanging voice came dripping with threat.

"So you're giving up then. Giving up. And for what? To hide. To run away. To leave everyone behind you. To abandon all your comrades to their fate."

She turned her head away, seemingly unwilling to cross his eyes again.

"You are a _coward._ "

Revulsion, loathing, anger, bitterness and vindication all condensed into a singular spearing insult. The condemnation hit him harder than he ever could admit, it wrenched his heart in revolt and burned his throat in humiliation. To be seen as a coward by _her_ of all people was an agonizing thought.

"Coward!?" he squawked ungraciously, deeply hurt in his pride. "Coward? How is being realistic about the chances of actually winning this damn war _cowardice_? We should evacuate the damn Citadel, find places for people to hide and-"

She turned suddenly towards him, raising an accusing talon towards him.

"Because _you_ have to keep on going because others cannot anymore. Because _you_ are still breathing while others have fallen, _you_ owe it to them to continue fighting. As long as _you_ can stand, then you can do your _duty_ and protect those you can. Do not turn your back on the people around you when they need _you_ the most, because doing so would mean being a _coward_."

She was scolding him like he was some idiot rookie, but he couldn't find any retort to the hurtful blame. She was still holding onto that very turianesque spirit of sacrifice, even if it means burning from the inside out. He slumped his shoulders and shook his head sadly, groaning as he thought about a way to reason with her as his anger slowly winded down.

"Duty, huh? Honor, duty, devotion to the cause and all that. It's great to hold on to them." he said without derision, "I'm sure the lads of the Second Fleet did their duty until the end. They helped save the Third and Fifth after all. But _duty_ didn't shield them from being vaporized. It didn't shield Arcturus. It didn't help Earth."

A sick, sad rictus shook his lips upward.

"Now, we're admiring the sacrifices of _dutiful_ dead men and women. But they're dead all the same, innit? Another revered name for the wall. It's war. People die. It's only a matter of time. I know that now."

"What about Palaven, what about Tuchanka ?" she retorted sharply, sweeping his word away with her hand. "It would be defeatism to sell our victories so short."

"It only took the most powerful civilization in the galaxy to simply _hold their ground_ in this war." he answered, "But even the turians and krogan needs to eat and sleep while fighting an enemy that feeds off their losses to raise more soldiers. Khar'Shan burned like a lit match, Earth is in ruins, Tuchanka is besieged and Palaven is the _first one_ to survive, more or less. What would happen to Thessia when the Reapers come around? We don't even know if the Migrant Fleet, the biggest flotilla in the galaxy is still around!"

He emphatically rose his arm from his seat and confronted her stare.

"It's a beautiful, hopeful dream to think that we can win this war. Holding on the tiniest, shiniest speck of hope like it's an entire sun. But it's just that : a _dream._ I don't want to keep deluding myself in that fleeting fantasy. _"_

She was still looking at him in silence, her jaw tightly clenched and mandibles idly twitching on the side, stoically waiting for him to finish his impassioned, desperate speech. He was almost flailing his arms around now, illustrating his plea with theatrical gestures.

"You call me a coward, but what do you expect me to do exactly? Find and push on the big red button the Reapers prepared that will kill everyone of the bastards in one go? Charter an entire cruiser full of everything explosive in a thousand mile radius and throw it in their ugly mug? How about straight up jumping in the eye of the beast with a live grenade, surely that would do the trick, yea?"

"You weren't like this back when we were partners." she mumbled dryly, stopping him dead in his ridiculous thrashing. "You weren't like this when we were out busting Red Sand rings, when Krogans where shooting and charging at us. You _laughed_ at me and my worry after that Krogan broke your arm."

He fell back in the sofa, feeling suddenly exhausted and stupid. He looked skyward, at nothing in particular, and sighed.

"It was different back then. So different. Even you can see that. The stakes were smaller and didn't usually involved the survival of an entire civilization. And Krogans, you can actually talk to them, even joke with them if you know the ones that have a sense of humor." he whispered with a ephemeral nostalgic, far-off smile. "You could reason with them. Beg for mercy if it came to it. The Reapers are death machines, unstoppable and unfeeling. Cerberus are just brainwashed and unreasonable... What do you expect me to do?"

He threw his head forward, squinting at her dour figure, and finally found the words that he never wanted to say, but always knew were true.

"We're stalling for time. That's the only thing we're doing. It's only a matter of time before the entire galaxy is overrun, and we lose this damn war."

Carried on by the flow of his words, something unbottled deep inside him. A weight lifted from his shoulders as he finally let go of suppressed despair.

"Now, it's about accepting defeat. About accepting the terms of our end. We can still hold on the idea that by doing something, _anything_ we can change the course of the war, that we could reclaim what was lost, that we could turn our sorrow and pain and blood into weapons... But we're just waiting for the things to come, barely holding on, blinding ourselves as much as we can."

He took a pause, inhaled deeply, exhaled slowly as his scrambled thoughts became clearer and simpler. As if a singular truth shone through the darkness and gritted teeth. As if he could finally voice what was eating him for so long.

"I am _leaving_ because we're going to die, and I'm resigned to the fact that I cannot prevent it, and it's killing me inside."

Abandoning himself in this sinking feeling, he let the spirit of defeat slowly consume him.

Her arms crossed against her slim figure and with a heavy frown looming over the two hollows of her eyes, she was silent as a grave. Her mandibles spread slightly on the side as if she was looking straight through him. Her voice was soft, solemn, almost mourning in tone.

"Are you done?"

He leaned forward, letting his elbows rest on his knees, and looked at her with an exhausted expression. A hollow smile spread across his face.

"Yes, I guess I'm done."

"You can't throw your life away. Not now."

He didn't answer.

"You are leaving to find a quiet place to die. Out of sight. Out of mind."

His head dipped low as he began to idly turn his hands together.

"Maybe. Maybe not."

"You can't..." Her low voice trembled and suddenly died in her throat.

She turned her back to him and approached the large glass bay overlooking the busy Ward. Backlit by the nebulae and ward glow, she stood there in a quiet vigil, arms crossed tightly against her, head held up high. Turning his head to the side, he watched as her lithe, spiky black silhouette cut out against the colorful neon holo-advertisements in the background, with the cracks on the window's surface criss-crossing her slender outline.

For a while, her room was filled with the humming sound of the passing hovercar, the discreet whipping cackle of the undulating tarp and the far-off, muffled hubbub of the Ward below.

A breathing room, first to let the volcanic turmoil of their emotions cool down and subside, and second to let them realize how wide the rift that opened between them stretched out.

He looked at her back and his own cold tea cup in turns, his tongue tied in knot made of shame, remorse and exhaustion. This was not how he hoped his last moments with her, a turian he called his lover for a time, would go. The heavy, deafening silence gave him ample time to ponder if his _plan_ wasn't nothing more than a gigantic mistake in the making.

He was throwing his life away.

Looking for a place to forget about the war.

To await the end, out of sight, out of mind.

Could he really call himself a man and look at his reflection after this?

"So you're leaving."

Her calm, cold voice finally broke down the silence. She was turning her head half-turned towards him, eyes hidden in backlit shadow.

 _A pause._

"Yes."

"When?"

 _A pause._

"Soon. Maybe tomorrow. Maybe next week..."

"Soon."

She fell silent and turned her head away again.

"You're leaving..." he heard her whisper slowly, with a trembling voice.

Her head drooped low, and she seemed to shiver and shudder, as if transfixed by a sudden freezing wind. In an undertone came a hushed, muted whimper before she straightened herself again. However, instead of her steel flanging voice came a quaint choking gargle, and then silence and shivers.

He didn't remember ever seeing a turian cry in his lifetime.

Looking at her stiff shoulders as she was modestly, painfully swallowing back the tears, he oddly remembered the title of a very old Earth poem. One that doesn't end well for anybody involved. One with a tragic, heartbreaking moral if superimposed to this peculiar situation.

 _The Oak and the Reed._

"Leave now if you want." her voice echoed, shivering in subdued, desperate rage. "Go, run away as far as you can. Hide and hope that no one will ever catch you."

He felt something wet grow in his eyes, his heart strangling on the burning feeling of guilt and shame that was wracking him. How foolish was he to expect to come out of this place without any regrets or remorse, now all he had was this bitter, acrid taste drilling through his throat and the damning realization that he may have destroyed something precious and irredeemable.

He felt compelled to try out, however impossible it sounded, to go to her.

To at least leave her on, he hoped, a smile.

Or else the sound of her teary voice would haunt him to the end of his days.

He looked at his tea cup, the amber liquid perfectly still and cold at its bottom. His eyes then went to his discarded backpack, scrunched and lonely, waiting for him at the side of the main door. With a crumpling grimace, he rubbed at the bridge of his nose in an effort to clear his troubled mind. Then, he swiped with the tip of his thumb the wetness gathering on his eyelid. And finally, driven by an imperious instinct he could not describe, he got up with a sigh.

He walked slowly to her tall and silent figure, rubbing the back of his neck in the hope that it would make him find the right words to say. May as well be just like trying to mend a broken bone with medigel.

"Go away." she hurriedly whispered, turning her head to the side.

"Look."

"You're a _**coward**_." she uttered suddenly, her grave voice cracking suddenly into a muffled hiccup.

"Don't call me a coward."

"That is what you are." she curtly responded.

He swallowed hard and joined her near the wide, cracked glass panel. She turned her head away when he reached her, a short shoulder length away from her that yet felt like an abyssal chasm between them. An aura of barely contained menace oozed from her abnormal stillness, a feeling of being utterly unwelcomed in her personal space. But this was something he had to do, or the knowledge of not facing the consequences of his actions would damn him to a lifetime of guilt and regret.

He just had to inhale, count to three, exhale, and smell the ashes.

"I just wanted to see you one last time."

No answer, as if she was actively trying to block out his very existence from her life. He sighed, winced as a ball of burning sorrow began to swell in his throat.

"I wanted to tell you goodbye."

She shivered and wrapped her crossed arms a little tighter still, but offered no answer still. He stayed at her side for a moment, his eyes iddly following the slow, careful course of a proud Turian cruiser, high in the sky, lining up to dock near the Presidium. He waited for a sign of life, anything that could bridge them back to a simple back-and-forth. But the damage was done, and her silence remained. He was probably dead to her mind, his name cursed with the brand of betrayal.

Not that he didn't deserve it.

"I am sorry. And I am the biggest olagoning fool in the galaxy."

He hid his face behind the palm of his hand and rubbed at his moistening eye, let out a long and whistling sigh from and looked one last time on the gorgeous vista that opened before him.

"What did you expect me to do?" she softly said, her voice wavering between venomous reproach and desperate rue. "That I would congratulate you on your idiotic, suicidal project? That I would welcome the sight of your sorrowful, pitiful hide here? That I would nod in agreement to your... _defeatism..._ and _nihilism_?"

Her face turned back toward the glass window, and from the corner of his eyes he noticed slightly puffy eyelids covering her squinting green eye. Her mandibles moved slowly against her jaw while she took the time to enunciate every word with a cold, calm rhythm.

"You're an _**idiot**_."

Without a single retort to contradict her, he stayed still in defeated silence.

"It's like you're bringing with you this black, swirling pool of reeking despair behind you. As if you've set yourself to drown yourself in it, to cover yourself in this... _disgusting_ tar and dissolve in it. And I try to get you out of there, but you just pull me down with you."

She lifted her chin up, her voice gaining more presence and countenance as she layed on her thoughts on him.

"You're _**selfish**_."

He iddly scratched at his beard, carefully listening to her.

"You only think about yourself. About what you feel. About what you fear. But how could I blame you? That's what _humans_ do. They behave like little tyrants, pushing, breaking, screaming at the void until they get what they want, and sulk when they don't. They come in your life, wreak havoc on everything you knew, and leave their head held high, blind to the consequences of their actions. I thought you were better than that, I thought that you, of all people, would not give up so easily."

Feeding from her renewed heat, he unthinkingly desired to defend himself, he yearned to argue back at her, even if it means exacerbating the already critical situation. He addressed her through the glass, looking over the sprawling Ward that extended so far from here.

"I've given up on being delusional. I've given up on waking up exhausted about having to keep up this farcical hope that we'd ever see the end of it. I've given up on blinding myself each day just so that I can keep on going while the galaxy burns around us."

"You've given up on everyone."

"I've opened my eyes on the fact that our time here is running shorter and shorter, and that there's not much time left to see to the end the way I'd like to do it. I'm only human after all, you said it yourself, but I think you're no better than me."

He turned his shoulders slightly towards her, trying to get her to face him. She glared at him menacingly without even turning her head, the ridges over her flat nose flaring up as she took deep breath.

"You're sacrificing so much of yourself for so little gain." he fervently continued, gesturing wildly "You're wallowing in your oh so _turian_ spirit of sacrifice, making a good martyr of yourself, setting yourself up to burn from the inside out as you devote what little time you have left to this... _pain._ Listen, I want you to be selfish."

"What?" she groaned, frowning in disbelief.

"Be selfish, for once in your lifetime. Now is the time to accept the fact that you, me, and anyone can fall, can fail, can die tomorrow for all we know. Yes, I think now is the time to do what you want, before it's too late."

He finally found the time to exhale, and hooked for a moment his gaze to her. A part of him expected to see a talon come flying his way, to be eviscerated on the spot for pushing his luck while he should have cut his losses.

Instead, as she stared at him with her unflinching, iron gaze, he saw her features loosen up for a simple, minuscule instant. An instant where he saw a glimmer of doubt in the depth of her furious stare. Then, she was back at looking behind the glass, with an ominous and fierce glint in her eyes.

"You want me to be selfish?" she scoffed mockingly.

"Yes."

"Why do you care?"

Something in him called out to be true to her. To stop lying to himself about the reason he wanted to tell her goodbye. To finally realize that, maybe, a part of him wanted for this argument to happen, and for her to ask this very question at the end of the line. He inhaled, mustering all the honesty and somenity he could summon.

"Because I care only about you."

She had a small gasp and shivered, as if the blade that he was constantly pushing in between her ribs finally reached its mark and pierced her heart. She breathed slowly as her eyes began to fixate something unseen.

"You want me to be selfish?" she repeated, this time with incredulity.

"Yes." he answered again.

Her stoic and tense poise finally seemed to soften as she began to unfurl her arms, and she shifted her torso slightly towards him. As he, in turn, spun to face her, he caught the glimpse of her taloned hands swiftly reaching for his neck, and before he could even realize what was happening he was thrown forcefully against the glass bay. In the blink of an eye, vertigo flooded through his startled brain and he thought himself falling, but his shoulders abruptly hit the panel in a loud thud. A panicked shiver instantly snaked through his entire spine as he shuffled his feet on the ground, struggling to regain balance. She had her taloned hands firmly gripping at the fabric of his collar while her long forearms pushed against his upper torso, barring him from escaping her strong hold. She was towering over him, using her entire body to block his escape, but he was simply caught off-guard, too surprised to even consider struggling against her grasp.

"You want me to be selfish. Fine then." she muttered ferociously.

He could only let out a muffled groan in return. One of her leg went slightly backward as she lowered her head closer to his. He still had to crane his neck upward to front hers, and as his eyes met with hers, he began to realize how close her face was to his. She let out a low, threatening snarl, mandibles dropping low to unveil rows of razor-sharp fangs. Her brow plate sank over the hollow of her eyes in an wild and furious frown, while the small series of ridges crossing over her flat nose widened sharply. Her hot breath fell on him through the small curved opening between her sharp lips.

The breath of fury incarnate smelled like cheap grape carbonated soda.

"I don't want you to leave." she growled while reaffirming her hold on him. "Not now. Not after all this time."

He winced and opened his mouth to protest, but she shoved him roughly back into the glass behind him, cutting off his attempt at complaint in a cough. She glowered at him, making it clear that it was time for him to listen.

"No. Now you listen to me. Carefully." she muttered, "It's all wrong, this damn mess of a war. It seems to be the end of the world as we know it, with our galaxy being swept up by a hurricane of deadly machines. Your world is taken, mine is burning so bright you could see the flames from the moons. All wrecked, all ruined, those were your own words, weren't they?"

Transfixed by her powerful presence, he stopped fighting her unshakable grip, freezing up in her arms as he listened to her every whispered words.

"All hopeless, all powerless, and miserable. Because we're fighting something that goes beyond our power, beyond our understanding, beyond our time. All we can do is take the punches and lie down, hoping it'll end soon while you're still reeling from the shock. And like with any fistfights, like with any storm, the first step to survive it is to **brace** for the incoming impact."

He winced and grit his teeth, expecting her to punctuate her threatening lecture with a well-timed punch to the gut. Instead, she simply pushed her forehead against his, grinding the hard plates against his skin.

"Then, you just wait for the next punch, and the next one, and the one that will follow. It'll be painful, but you **will** get up, again and again and again. As long as you breathe, you can still fight back. And as long as you fight back you stay **alive**."

She stopped and pushed a little harder against his head, close enough for him notice the small details on her severe face, the minute flaws that dotted the smooth limestone-like texture of her bone plates. Then, after a few second, her grip felt ever so slightly lighter than before.

"Sometimes I ask myself, how could it go back to the way it was before. How many more friends will I have to see disappear. Sometimes, I feel like I don't want to know how this story will end, because how could it end on a victory? But then, I remember that an entire galaxy is finally banding together, that we are keeping the fight until the bitter end. And sometimes..."

A pause, and her slit-shaped pupils shifted strangely over him. Her voice was a whisper, but one tainted with the color of reckless, ingenuous _hope_.

"Sometimes, I remember that in the end, a storm will give away to the sun. "

She paused, as if even herself was taken aback by the candor of her own words, but did not relent in keeping him pinned against the glass wall. She inhaled sharply, and resumed her lecture with the same icy, iron-willed tone.

"We've lost track of each others for so long after everything happened, what did you expect by coming here? I've waited for so long for a sign of life. I've always knew we would meet again, you and I. But this wasn't how I imagined meeting _you_ again... After worrying about coming up on your name in the list of "absent friends", after feeling so... _alone_. I find you on my doorstep..."

He felt her fingers tense harshly against his collar, her stare becoming nothing more like an accusing, furious squint.

"And I learn that you're here to tell me your **goodbyes**!? That you've left everything we stood for together so that you can go drink yourself to death! I feel so... _betrayed_. I cannot stand it, I cannot understand you!"

She shook him, pushed him against the wall again, raising her voice in anger.

"Remember who you _are_! Stop drowning in that despair of yours and remember your _stupid_ bravado. Remember who you are, and why I've trusted you back when we were partners. Remember who you are, who I fell in love with, and wake up from-... From."

Her voice trailed into a muffled gasp, mandibles stretching open as wide as her eyes. Her words hung in the heavy air, ringing through his skull like a struck bell. He was probably as bewildered at the accidental confession as her, even as he stared helplessly at her, and a strange shiver crossed over his skin. A familiar, far-off feeling. A memory from what felt like a bygone time.

A knot in his gut was either being made or unmade.

"Who you fell in lo-?"

"I've missed you. I can't understand why, but I've missed you." she abruptly cut him off, her tone half-frantic and half-accusing. "Oh, yes, I found it hard to believe at first, but I've missed you. I've missed your stupid, awful jokes. I've missed your... stupid, dopey smile that is always plastered on your face. I've missed your stupid, unprofessional, laid-back attitude. I've missed... your company."

Her mandibles were quivering feverishly on the side of her jaw, and in her mellowing stare shone a faint glimmer either apprehension, or hesitation.

"I miss the time where we were at peace. Where we were... _happy_ together."

She added, struggling oddly on a few words, "And a selfish, vain part of me wished that we would go back to those feelings again, someday. I wish-... No, I want to be selfish and keep you at my side, for you to be with me again, so that at least I could look after you. Protect you. Keep you safe from..."

Her expression hardened harshly again as her mandibles closed tightly against her face. The fleeting moment of vulnerability seemed to have passed, and he felt like someone lucky enough to admire a rare and secret eclipse.

"Now, listen to me. Listen to me very carefully." she muttered, veiled threats tinging her low voice. "I have put my trust in you before. I am doing it again, and you. Will. Not-"

"Screw me."

"Screw-... What?"

Seeing her shocked, mystified face made him chuckle genuinely, in spite of his current predicament. He squinted his eyes at her, unable to suppress the impish smile that wrung his lips into a mocking grin.

"Don't screw me. You told me the same thing back then. A long time ago."

"I... What?" she repeated, her mandible twitching against her face.

"Three years ago. Not so long after we were partnered for the first time. You don't remember? Everyone was still on the edge after the battle at the Citadel, after Humanity was granted a seat at the Council. We both were promoted at the same time and got partnered together."

His mind replayed the old, strong memory. He remembered how she caught him flat against a wall, away from prying eyes, with her long arms barring his chest and keeping him pinned. She looked down at him with her hard, cole stare, like he was some kind of unruly and primitive lifeform.

"You watch my back, I watch yours. No funny business." he recalled, repeating her words with a sly grin, "I am putting my trust in you, so do not screw me. Those were your exact words. You made me laugh a lot."

Her frown deepened as she looked more and more confused by the moment.

"You... What?"

"It's " _over_ ", or " _up_ " that you need to add at the end, however."

"What!?"

"It's don't screw me _over, or don't screw_ _up_. Always had trouble with human idioms, didn't you?"

"Idiot, you-"

"No. _Idiom_." He spelled carefully.

The maelstrom of conflicting feelings that read upon her face was an incredibly precious and rare sight. As if she tripped while pulling a punch, he countered and got her in the ropes, and messing with her brought him great fun. He grinned, feeling her grip on his collar relax, willing to press his luck further, just to get a good reaction out of her again.

"What are you getting at." she barked, looking rather annoyed.

"You say "Don't screw me over" at some guy you shove into a wall to intimidate into not betraying your trust." "Simply screwing someone has a rather different meaning, usually takes place in a bedroom between two people..."

"You... What are you-"

"Now that I think of it. I actually did."

"What ?"

"Screw you."

He erupted into a boisterous laughter while she mouthed an indignant complaint. However, his raucous mood quickly faltered upon seeing her pained expression. His jokes usually provoked a silent indifference or a stoic rebuttal, and something about the way she looked at him, disquieted and annoyed, made him realize that he hit a nerve.

"You _insufferable_ imbecile." she muttered gravely before pushing him hard against the window. "I am being honest with you, is it to much to expect the same from you? Listen to me carefully, and be serious for once in your stupid life. I meant everything I said to you. For once, be _serious_ with me."

A cold sweat ran down his neck as he could swear that he heard part of the glass crack behind his back. That, and the fact that provoking a turian that had her claw so close to his neck was probably not the brightest idea.

"Alright, I'm sorry, I shouldn't-" he bleated, holding his hands up in surrender

"I don't want you to leave. I don't want to lose you again. Because I... I l..."

Her words died down in her throat in a struggling whimper. He could guess what she words that put such a strain on her pride, the unsaid confession that melted his heart before.

She inhaled deeply, closed her eyes and exhaled slowly. Then, she released her iron grip around his collar, and moved her hands slowly to rest on his shoulders. He watched her straighten herself, towering over him, shedding her anger to become a new monument of gentle, quiet strength.

She inhaled, looked down at him with the most resolute eyes, mandibles shivering slightly against her jaw, and exhaled slowly.

"Because. I. Love. You." she slowly said, with the same solemnity as if she announced a new, unbreakable, all-binding law upon the galaxy.

Here she stood before him in silence, like a stalwart vigil. A proud, unshakable, strong turian that hid a gentle and romantic heart under her alien plates and martial demeanor. She was melting ice, encompassed in a shell of living bones. She was a force of nature, whose inner strength and warmth could probably rival the cold, creeping entropy that was the mark of their epoch.

He smiled, shaken to his core by this tall carapaced alien girl he called both friend and lover. He felt dwarfed by her determination, by her love...

By _her_.

He would not fight her anymore.

He would gladly surrender to her if it meant sharing her affection once again.

"Alright. You win." he said calmly, feeling oddly relieved "I give up."

Her mandibles opened slightly ajar as she looked at him with a tinge of worry.

"I give up giving up." he pursued, putting his hands over hers on his shoulders, "You've proved your point, I'm probably the biggest idiot this side of the galaxy. I think there's a quarian word for the type of person I am, innit? I think it was Bosh'tet or something like it."

He gently squeezed her hands between his, unfocusing his eyes from her face to a random, far-off point somewhere around her collarbone.

"I knew that coming here to see you before I..." he swallowed back his words, burying back this stupid plan of in the deepest pit of his mind, "I knew it would have been something like a gamble. "

She listened to him carefully, her previous ire all but gone.

"A gamble you've won." he said with a smile, "Some part of me expected you to try to hold me back, and maybe some part of me wanted for you to do it. Maybe I was just looking to play the martyr, to... grab someone's attention."

He swallowed hard, his previous behavior leaving a bitter taste in his mouth. A small pause, and with a long sigh he looked back at her green alien eyes.

"I apologize." he declared, "I was selfish. I apologize for my pessimism, and for my attitude. If you can... keep looking after me, I'll keep going."

She lifted her chin up and let out a strange, muffled sobbing sound. Her talons tensed up on his shoulders, as she idly stared at nothing, lost in thoughts. He could see her try her hardest not to appear emotional, turian pride following her until the very end. She quickly focused back her attention to him, her gaze shining with gritty determination... And something more.

"What we had before. You and me. It was real, wasn't it?"

"Yes." he calmly answered.

"It felt real to me, too. We're in this together, are we not?"

"Yes."

"Then, you will stay with me. Now." her mandibles trembled slightly against her jaw. "I mean... Will you stay with me ?"

He chuckled to himself, finding her hesitant authority quite charming.

"Lady, I will stay with you until you bore of me." he announced with a sly smile, "Seeing you again made me learn an important thing."

"What is it?"

"It's that we are but the prisoner of the one we love."

Her curved mouth opened slightly ajar in a silent gasp, her dour expression finally faltering, melting before his very eyes into mellow affection. She looked at him expectantly, and he could guess she was waiting to hear something from him. His heart skipped a beat, and the words escaped him.

"I love you."

The three magic words.

Even as she seemed to expect them, the words still stole her breath, making her mandible open wide as a long shudder crossed her lithe body. Her gaze shone with a light of understanding, of affection and impatience. She moved her taloned hands to his face, cupping the edge of his jaw before gently curving it upward. Letting himself be guided by her hands, his own fell naturally on her flared high hips. She herself shuffled on her legs and bent over, craning her neck downard at the same time. Stopping just short before their lips met, she paused as a last remnant of hesitation took hold of her heart. She rolled her head on the side, maybe to find a better position, breathing her warm breath upon his skin. She swallowed hard, closing both her mandibles and eyes, and finally sunk her face to meet his own. In turn, he closed his eyes as his world soon became no more than the prickling sensation that ran all along his spine and skin.

Her curved mouth firmly pressed on his pursed lips, and he welcomed the unique, inimitable texture. Like a warm and supple limestone bark that faintly tasted like salt, and bone, and iron... And sugary grape-flavored cola.

It there was ever hope, he was sure this was how it tasted.

A small, muffled moan rolled off the minute opening of her curved mouth. Her hands traveled from his jaw to behind his ears, pulling him anew while she nestled her flat nose snugly against his cheek. She caught his lips between the flat edge of her own, and he felt the ghost of her tongue brush past his trapped muscle. A discreet, intimate game of exploration began between them. He could feel her tense up between his finger, and his hands ran upward, following the curve of her spine and the bow of her back, until they reached the back of her nape. Her own arms reached around his head to lean on the window behind, letting her weight down on him a little more. Her kiss was intoxicating. It carried him away to a warm, gentle place untouched by time. A drop of her saliva felt like branding his mind with a searing iron, and he welcomed every second of it.

Soon enough, their kiss became bolder, greedier. She was nuzzling against him more avidly, sometimes pressing her mouth against his, sometimes letting her tongue trace the outline of his lips. After a particularly long snog, she finally relented and broke her kiss. Her face mere inches away from his, barely touching each other, they breathed in deep each other's air. The warmth of her shuddering respiration made him dizzy, arousing a carnal instinct that was forgotten for so long. A desire that, after being suppressed and shunned, came back bellowing and desperately hungry. All of their worries, anger, despair and alarm evaporated, melted away by the crucible of this kiss, leaving behind a strange, keen yearning. Through half-open eyes, he noticed the same lurid, feverish ember burning in the turian's unfocused gaze.

Love. And lust. Mixed together.

"Again." she cooed, almost pleading.

Unabashed by the fact that they were still right against the grand glass window, in full view of any passing hovercar or curious neighbor, he obliged her, crashing upon her lips like a parched man, sliding his hands in the nook behind her mandibles to keep her secure so tightly against him. His body remembered her, and longed for a taste of her embrace again. His desperation called for her own, and she answered in kind, with ardent intent.

However, as much as their kiss was deep, desirous and exhilarating, he soon felt an annoying, creeping stiffness in his neck. Height difference meant that he had to twist his neck in an awkward angle, and she had to hold an uncomfortable half-bent pose while leaning on her arms. Soon enough, his hands reached around the slender waist of the tall turian, securing her in a tight hug before pushing her away from the window. She broke the kiss with a surprised giggle, clasping her long arms around his head and shuffling on her feet to keep balance. With his face buried close against her hard chest, he boldly pressed onward carefully, letting his spindly partner slowly step backward. Toward the low coffee table that would make for a more comfortable and even ground. She gently raked his hair all the while, letting out an amused giggle as he hugged her close.

"Wait. Wait! Wai-" her flanged voice cried out, before his leg bumped into something low. He felt her suddenly tip over, one of her arm wildly flailing behind as she lost balance and brought him with her. A dull thud, two muffled humphs, a clamor of disturbed metal cans, and he found himself laying on top of her, his knee pressing close against her inner thigh.

A strange, lascivious sense of déjà-vu rumbled through his mind...


	3. Part III : Elixir

**Part III - Elixir**

His leg and knee were hurting, and he felt a bit disoriented by the sudden fall. Her puffy jacket felt soft under his cheek and ear, even if the hard ridges of her armored thorax could be felt through the synthetic cloth. Raising his head, he crossed her almond-shaped green eyes. She looked mostly relieved and a bit amused, as if watching a clumsy primitive lifeform fumbling around on her stomach. Her mandibles twitched as he twisted his body on hers, trying to find a more comfortable position that would not put too much weight on her stomach.

"Are you alright?" she asked, sliding her long arms along his sides.

"I'm fine. Quite fine." he answered in a grunt.

Something unexpectedly gave away from under his hand as he pushed on his arm, maybe a magazine or a datapad. He fell back right on her, bumping his head against the hard bones of her hips once again. She groaned, her breath cut short, before letting out a muffled, coughing laugh. He dared not to move but craned his neck up, refolding his arms to pat at her padded torso.

"You bumbling idiot." she giggled, squirming under him.

"Are you alright? Did I hurt you?"

"I'm fine. I'm alright. Don't worry."

Like a beached seal, he was splayed over her, arms outstretched, his bearded chin digging into her belly, goggling at her face. He must have been quite the sorry sight, as it managed to make even the tall, proud and dour turian snicker mischievously. He felt one of her hand rise from his shoulder to his neck where she gently began to scratch at his hair and behind his ear. As her thumb brushed against his bruised cheek, he felt how careful and affectionate her touch was. This simple caress sent strange chills down his spine while warm memories beginning to surface back again in his mind.

She looked at him tenderly before letting her head rest back against the table while he stayed still, breathing slowly, soothed by the sound and feeling of her gentle scratchy caress.

Her kneading, itching hand swirled straight to his mind, enrapturing him, each circle making him feel one day younger, one week lighter...

"You spilled your tea." she whispered, almost like an afterthought.

"Huh?" he lazily groaned.

"Your tea. You spilled it."

"Oh."

He jolted, without really thinking, oddly reminding himself about the preciousness of tea. Of _her_ tea.

"Oh!"

Using his arms and elbows, he began to crawl forward, over her tall slender body, before pushing on his arm and leg to lean on the side and reach to the abandoned mug on the ground. However, before he could grab it, she pushed the side of his head back toward her, making him grab the ledge of the table to avoid falling on her again.

Even as her mandibles were tightly close shut against her jaw, there was a warm, mischievous sparkle that shone in her green eyes that contrasted with her otherwise dour and solmen mask-like face. He felt a long, gentle scratch upon his nape and saw the small ridges on her flat nose flared wide. Her expression turned expectant, as if she waited patiently for him to say something. As if he shuffled on his arms to hoist and steady himself over her, he felt a strange and out-of-place sense of guilt for something so small.

"I... Huh." he mumbled, clearing his throat while he searched for the right words, "I guess I should apologize to you."

She lifted her chin and squinted at him, looking rather smug as her fingers curled up over his neck.

"Mmh? Apologize about what?" she hummed with the hint of a tease.

"About what ? What do you mean?"

"You want to apologize to me... About what?"

"Huh. I..." he frowned as the singular impression of being played for a fool wormed its way to his mind. "I apologize for wasting your tea."

"Mmh?" she rose one browplate, looking at him askew. "That's all?"

"And for... Yelling at you."

"Hm hm. What else?"

"I don't know. Making you angry at me?"

She exhaled, as if he gave a wrong or ridiculous answer, and pulled his head downward, back to hers. She reeled him until he could nestle his cheek right against the long, flat hard chine that extended behind her mandible. Then, she opened her mouth, her hot breath brushing against his skin and mixing with the sound of her fingers rustling against his head.

"How about apologizing for making me wait?" she softly murmured, each word a warm, tantalizing embrace falling in his ear.

He chuckled, finding her attempt at teasing him particularly charming, and rubbed his cheek against the unique limestone bark texture of her face plates. He stopped to lay a sweet kiss over the corner of her curved mouth, where the tip of her mandible close on the side of her edged lips.

"Aye, that I can do." he whispered in turn, searching for her eyes to melt into, "I think I can even do better than that."

She hummed with enthusiasm in response, her other free hand travelling over his back and side as she tried to catch his lips between her own. He eluded her enticing invitation and pushed on his arms to raise his shoulders over her, letting his waist and hips fall slowly in between her open thighs.

A large grin spread upon his face as he played with the idea of teasing his partner just like she did. With a slow, careful movement, he leveled his groin just over her, ghosting close against her narrow lap.

"I think I can show you." he began, accentuating each words with a slow husky diction "I can show you just how deeply, _deeply_ sorry I feel."

At first quite unfazed by his pantomime, she let out a tired sigh before her surly composure faltered. With a disapproving frown and click of the tongue, she reached over his shoulders to pull his head downward, silencing him by catching his lips between her own. A nibble at first, then a quick furtive lick that ran across his lips. Her hot, halting breath felt dizzying while the taste of her kiss sent pleasant chills down his spine.

A low and warm hunger began to bloom in his guts, slowly flooding his reason and scrambling his thoughts. One kiss led to a deeper, greedier another, but each time their mouth parted he felt the desire for another one, each time left thirsty for more of that charming and bubbly off-brand soda taste.

Underneath him, he felt the turian shuffle and writhe, making a few of her magazines fall of the low table as she re-positioned herself. Her thighs opened a little wider to welcome his hips slide between them, until their crotches bumped against each others. He could swear he felt her lower body toss and push subtly against him in an ever so subtle motion. She let out a long, heavy exhalation as her taloned fingers trailed in between his shoulder blades. As excitement began to bubble in his troubled mind, he suddenly broke their kiss and pushed on his arms to shift his body weigh around his hips, grinding and rubbing ostentatiously against her. She let out a small breathless gasp, mandibles twitching subtly against her jaw, and blinked in quick succession as if to shake off drowsiness or intoxication.

In an instant, her expression quickly morphed back to her stoical front.

Her browplates lowered into a frown, her jaw clenched tightly shut and she looked at him with an accusing if restless gaze, however he couldn't but notice the way her mandibles jittered, how she tried to calm the ragged rhythm of her own breath. A shared kiss, mounting lust and longing desire proved too strong a force, even for her cool-headed character.

A deep, carnal sense of satisfaction curled his mouth into a cocky grin. How he would treasure the sights of her face, of her charming and paradigmatic reactions. How he wanted to lure more delightful reactions out of her, how he wanted to be able to break a smile and bring joy to this proud and strong turian... His past partner in duty, and present symbol of hope.

"Hey."

Her low, hushed flanged voice called out to him, bringing him back to her.

"Hm?"

"I... I. I-" she stammered, mandibles quivering.

"Huh? huh?" he hummed, enjoying her strange struggle with simple words.

"I. Huh. I want..."

She paused and exhaled, calming herself down before crossing his eyes.

"It's been a long while. I've missed this. Us, I mean."

He smiled, touched by her wholesome confession, unable to follow through his desire to gently caress her cheek lest he'd fall on her body again. Her mandibles opened slightly ajar before she continued to whisper.

"I remember the time when we were together. When we..." she stopped, frowning, "Together. You and me. When we... Here and-"

"Oh?" he smirked, cocking his head on the side while giving a firmer, harder push against her lap, locking his body so close inside her open thighs.

Her brow plates sunk in a frustrated twitch, "I. I... It's been a long while!" she uttered in an almost blaming tone. He chuckled at her shy frustration and moved his hips slightly backward before bucking back against her crotch, mimicking an unequivocal humping motion.

"You don't have to be shy about it, you know. It's been a _little while_ for me too." he said, making quite an arousing game out of grinding against her. "Last time I did something like that was with a wonderful, beautiful lass."

"Huh? What do you mean? Who?" she asked, a hint of confusion in her voice.

"Oh, you would have loved her, I'm sure." he continued with a soothing tone, "She's tall and slender. Tough and strong, even sometimes stubborn when she felt like it. A girl that knew what she wanted, and quite the... _optimist._ "

He stretched his last word with a long grinding motion, pushing his half-roused sex against hers, stirring an excited muffled sigh out of her throat.

"Sharp talons. Long svelte legs. And a tight, taut, adorable rump that I dreamed about sometimes. But I think that what I remember the best about her is her lovely green eyes, and those striking red markings on her face."

Her mandibles opened wide and hang for a second despite her tightly shut mouth. Her stoicism finally melted into demure pleasure at being flattered, she gave him a coy, nearly accusing look as he felt her arms press tighter against his side. Feeling like he was finding chinks in his lover's armor, he felt compelled to praise and cajole her more, hoping to see more of her timid, flustered side.

"Dependable, honorable, with an adventurous streak, she's the very model of a turian officer. I was lucky to be able to sneak a peek at her cute butt..."

She frowned in faked vexation, and he laughed as he continued his praise : "How patient that lady is to put up with little old me, it's quite amazing, innit?... I wonder, sometimes, if she realize how beautiful she is to me."

"Enough, I get it." she said quietly in a firm voice.

Her mandibles quivered instinctively, and she tensed up her jaw muscles in an attempt to hide her natural body language that betrayed her shyness.

"You're cute when you're flustered." he murmured with a smile.

She hummed nonchalantly in return, still trying to keep a straight face.

"That's quite like you to try to play the tough girl. I always liked that."

Another hum, and her arms squeezed his waist a little tighter.

"I missed you too. Us. I missed making l-"

He stopped himself, realizing what he was about to say, a sudden surge of worry flooding through his heart. After all, they were at each other's throat a few minutes ago, filled with anger and despair... Would she share his desire?

He then thought about the fact that his worry was misplaced considering his current situation. He could see she wanted this, _him_ , as much as he wanted her, to embrace her in the most intimate manner. To become one with her and what she represented for him.

A friend. A partner. A symbol of hope. A symbol to follow.

His love.

 _Be a man. Don't be a coward._

He exhaled and looked in her deep green eyes. She was looking at him expectantly, as if she knew what he was about to say and awaited it eagerly. A small smile crook upon his lips, and he poured out his heart's desire :

"Right here, right now. I want you."

Surprised, she blinked quickly before visible joy wrinkled through her eyelids, giving her an almost light-headed expression. Her mandibles hung slack as she gave him a most tender and affectionate look. She tried to speak, but her voice trailed off into a strangled murmur.

"I..." she sighed, clenching her mandibles against her jaw.

"Hm?"

He felt her hands slide quickly against his waist before reaching upward for his collar. A lively spark of life twinkled in her eyes, an ember of want that seemed to grow bigger and brighter.

"I'm glad." she simply whispered before grasping at his clothes in a tight fist, pulling him towards her with determination. She tilted her head slightly on the side, and firmly pushed her flat lips against his own.

He closed his eyes and let himself be blinded by her passionate, greedy kiss. Her tongue brushed against his lips, pushing slightly against them, trying to sneak between them. Her appetite was contagious and he let her pry his mouth open. A timid bump, a shiver down his spine, and his tongue grazed and slid under hers into her warm, wettish maw. Her hot breath fired up and swirled through his lung and mind, and each caress of her slender tongue shook what was left of his scrambled thoughts; each swirls unlocking a little more of his lover's more assertive and fierce side.

She pulled his head tightly against hers, nudging her flat nose against his cheek, and with a last transfixing flick, her tongue retreated behind her edged lips. She closed her mouth around his, catching his fleshy, plump lumps in a sharp nibble, and gently pulled away from him, stealing at the same time what was left of his own breath. As their lips unlocked from each other in a shared hushed sigh, he lazily opened his eyes again.

He laid his eyes on a thing of beauty.

Every part of her visage suggested excitation and carnal thirst: from the erratic flutter of mandibles or the ragged breath that shook her entire body. A few beads of their mixed saliva were still shimmering on the corner of her half-open mouth. How easy she was to read when she shed some of her stoicism. She seemed now inhabited by a kind of lively fury. He could read her desire for him burning in the depth of her green alien eyes. Drawn to her, almost devoured by her dazzling stare alone, he barely reacted when her taloned finger pulled down the zippers and clasp of his jacket. She tried to pull his top off, unbalancing his arm and almost making him fall on her again. As he straightened himself and pulled away from her, darkness fell over his eyes and he was left struggling with his stuffy, cumbersome clothes that suddenly covered his head. He chuckled heartily and bent his back, letting his turian lover draw forcefully on his sleeves. A cold zipper grazed against his cheek and the cloth suddenly folded wrongly, getting stuck around his neck, around his shoulders. He struggled and wriggled like a fish stuck in a fisher's net and would have found the situation quite comical if his mounting lust wasn't making the stalling incredibly unwelcome.

With a final heave and a few more wriggle, his obstinate top finally slid out of his arm before being quickly discarded, thrown over the nearby ottoman. His naked back felt slightly chilly until the palm of her hands laid back again on his flanks.

"Ain't you an eager one." he snickered, amused by her febrile hunger for him.

She hummed distractedly without paying attention to what he had said. Rather, the turian seemed more focused on her human lover's now uncovered torso. Her eyes carefully studied his form, from his shoulders to his midriff, while her hands caressed his naked skin. Grabbing on his belt tightly, she brought him closer and over her, until his hips hovered over her belly and he could find balance on his folded legs alone. He looked down, and her eyes were still riveted on his body. She was admiring it with a gleeful expression, as if she was contemplating some hunky primitive lifeform she was fond of. He felt the hair on his arm rising when the tip of her taloned fingers ghosted over his ribs, he shivered when the palm of her warm hand trailed over his abdomen, from top to bottom and then once more, until she finally rested her hands back on his belt. She tugged and pulled, attempting to find her way around another couple of too stubborn buckles and fasteners, browplate frowning and mandibles clicking in frustration, and he could only let out a joyful guffaw at being mishandled like this. As much as his turian's lover lustful hastiness was flattering, part of him realizing that hastiness was the quickest route to transform a night to treasure into a horrible interspecies awkwardness thing. After all, there was no need to rush things. Plus, a lewd idea already made way in his mind... Something about showing a special turian how much he cared for her. And in his mind, there was an easy way to prove it.

As such, he laid his hand on top of hers, squeezing them gently in an attempt to slow her down as he pulled his hips back.

"Woah there, you're an impatient one, aren't you? Hey, quit- quit pulling!"  
Alarmed, she looked up to him, worry in her eyes.

"Oh. Huh. I- Did I hurt you?"she blurted, mandibles fluttering.

"Not at all, I'm just surprised, that's all." he said, finding great joy in her startled expression. "It's funny to see you all hot and bothered..."

Looking rather restless, she couldn't muster her signature exasperated frown. Instead, she softly grumbled as she tugged at his belt again.

"Quit teasing and help me out with-"

"Nuh-huh. No fair being the only one getting undressed." he whispered with a smirk, gently pulling her hands away from his belt.

"Oh. Right." she mechanically worded, her fingers escaping from his grasp to quickly go over the unseen zippers of her snug combinaison. A sharp rasping sound later, and she was with practised ease uncovering a part of her large bowl-like bone collar.

"Hey now!" he snickered as he laid his hands on top of hers, stopping her motions once again. "Slow down a little, will you?"

She frowned at him, seemingly growing frustrated with his interruptions. "Huh? Why are you stalling again? What is it with-"

"I love you." he chuckled.

She swallowed her words in a strangled sigh and froze still, surprised by the sudden confession, and averted her gaze from him. Her mandibles loosened slightly ajar, and she mumbled something unintelligible.

"I love you!" he repeated with a boisterous laugh, leaning over his lover's face to rest his weight on the flat of his phalanx. He sunk on his elbows, bringing his face closer to hers, anchoring himself in her verdigris eyes.

"I love you..." he whispered, softly blowing the ghost of the words over her open mouth. "...And I want to make good on you."

Her mandibles and jaw clamped tightly shut, even as if he could see her core melting in her softening gaze.

"You said it yourself, it's been a while, innit?" he murmured, hovering over her face in a teasingly slow motion. "So let's try to make it worth the wait."

"Hm?"

"Hold still, just like this, and relax for once. Let me do the heavy licking."

"What do you-?"

"Lifting." he corrected himself with a smirk before laying a gentle kiss on the rugged curve of her central brow-plate. _"_ Kiss on your forehead."

"What are you scheming?" she mumbled, before his lips squished into the edged flat of her own, cutting her inquiry short. A distant hint of cheap grape soda flavor still haunting her hot and husky breath.

"Kiss on your lips." he whispered, leaving the suggestion of his mouth graze against her chin, then downward, along the taut skin of her neck. He followed the trail of her artery, inhaling deeply to take in the scent of the Turian's naked skin, and left a long, hard suckling kiss just across the side of her neck, below her mandible. A kiss strong enough to leave a lovebite behind.

"Kiss on your neck." he simply stated, leaving her to faintly writhe and shiver under his attentions. She let out a struggling sigh, attempting to keep face by closing her eyes and mandibles tightly shut. Yet she still turned her head on the side to give him better access.

Another kiss, this time upwards, catching her just under her ornate mandible. He fumbled and felt his way along her chest, his hand managed to meet with her balled up fist, still clenching tightly against the synthetic puffy cloth of her combinaison. His fingers laid over hers, then gently nudged them apart to bring the flap of cloth open. As if on a mutual agreement, the teasing game came to a pause, withhold for the time it took to help a turian undress. The gentle rustling of cloth and zippers mixed with their quiet and expectant breathing, with the occasional muffled giggling when a peculiar tight undershirt got caught in a peculiar wide mandible. The unwelcomed clothes fell scattered on the surrounding couch, ottoman and bare ground. As soon as his turian lover was left in the same state of being undressed, he fell back over her, closing his eyes as he grazed over her neck with the edge of his lips. As he resumed exploring her body through kiss and tongue, her long arms closed up lazily on his side until the keen tip of her taloned fingers rested across the line of his spine. He inched downward, shivering at the feeling of her long nails skimming gently against his skin, and left a trio of kisses over her heavily clad chest, where her heart would be located.

"Kiss on your heart." he muttered in a smile.

The long grooved plates of her carapaced chest felt like limestone bark, and the taste made him think about glazed bone, coated in a faint layer of iron or copper-like metal. A rough armored shell that felt coarse and bland under his lips, like kissing sandstone, but who revealed a subtle delicateness if one would pay attention to its discreet suppleness, to the way it moved and expanded to accommodate the turian's lungs for each breath she took.

A hard, stern exterior that has a secret, inner smoothness. A fascinating, well-designed anatomy. A fascination that, without his notice, turned into attraction...

As he continued to crawl ever downward her slender body, his mouth followed the bumpy road of her plexus that crested over her armored chest. Hard bone gave place to smoother and younger cartilage that blended in with her naked skin. He dipped his head slightly across her side, laying his lips on the naked skin of her waist. With deliberate slowness, his lips barely skimmed across the tan leathery surface of her skin until he could found an appropriate mark. He opened his eyes, hooking with her own despite the askew, awkward angle, because he would not miss a thing of her reactions. Then, with a devious grin, he opened his mouth and gently nibbled at her skin, straight against her delicate upper abdominal oblique muscles that he _knew_ to be ticklish. She gasped adorably, mandibles fluttering in panic, her arms running across the lengths of his back to try to push him off her. Her quick strangled groans of exasperation gave away to a muffled hum as he lavished her naked side with teasing bites and wet kisses, until all she could do was throw her head back and keep her mandibles tightly shut as to not make her warbling giggle heard.

"Kiss on your stomach." he mumbled with a large grin, quite happy with himself to have found a way to put his forbidden knowledge to use.

She batted her leg, cursing his name in between unintelligible fits of restrained laughter, and fiercely pushed his head away from her ticklish flank.

"That was not a kiss!" she shouted, frowning heavily as if she had to admonish a disobeying primitive lifeform. "How annoying can-" He locked eyes with her, defying her angry stare with a mischievous squint as he kept his journey down his lover's lithe body. Her words died in her throat as a glint of panic shone in her eyes as he began pulling back the tight pants that covered her lower abdomen.

"Kiss on your lower, _lower_ belly." he whispered, greatly enjoying the journey over the turian's strange and exotic body. She writhed in silence, her expression growing both curious and flustered, as if her excitation was slowly getting muddled with worry or angst. He tugged and pulled at the supporting bands and straps of her tight black slip with renewed vigor, hastening his efforts and shaking her whole hips in his efforts and lavishing kisses upon the newly uncovered patches of skin. Then, after one last mighty heave that almost dragged her rump off the table, her pants finally fell to her knees before being blocked by the unique alien shape of her calf spurs. However, at the very moment his attention and hands switched to the form-hugging black underwear still covering her most intimate region, his turian lover sprung back to a sitting position.

"Wooh!" she barked, grabbing him suddenly by the shoulders and pushing him away from her. "You. Look. You weren't thinking about..."

Startled by her sudden reaction, he froze completely, hands still hooked over the edge of her underwear, and looked up to meet her eyes.

"I can guess what you're trying to do, but... It's..."

He fell momentarily silent, awed by her alien beauty and vulnerable expression. After being shadowed by his body for long, and now lighted up by the changing neon light coming from the Wards, her face seemed brighter and more expressive than ever. Even the red streak of warpaint over her nose seemed more striking in color, or maybe it was his lust-addled mind that was playing tricks with the light.

"Huh... You. Are you listening?" she called out, frowning slightly at his petrified expression. He took in the sight of the subtle nervous quiver of her mandibles, the twitchy furrowing of her nose and brow plates, the way she looked at him with both anticipation and trepidation. She was delightfully easy to read in striking contrast with her usual solemn and stoic self.

How he loved the way she wore that intimate vulnerability on her face, and how strangely _human_ and relatable she appeared at this very moment.

"You're beautiful." he murmured instinctively, almost unconsciously.

She hummed quietly, smiling discreetly as her mandibles opened slightly wider and looser, and gently shook him awake.

"Palaven One to Earth Two?" she called.

"I- huh. What's happening? Did I hurt you?" he blabbered in confusion.

"No, not at all. In fact, it's more about _you_ than _me_."

"Hm?"

"I know you. You've been trying it every time we've been together."

"Trying what?" he mumbled, finally coming back to his senses.

She stopped and grumbled, shifting her eyes to find an escape.

"What you're doing is great and all but..."

"But what?"

"Hrmf! Don't be dense!"

"I don't understand." he lied, a wicked part of him craving for more of her fluster, "You looked like you were enjoying-"

"I _do_ enjoy myself, it's true." she interrupted, cupping his jaw between the palm of her hand and frowning down at him, as if she could see right through his act of playing innocent. "But you know the old boring biology story for why trying to... For you to... Hm."

"What? Put my head between your nice legs and lick-"

"Yes. _That_." she curtly hushed him with a disapproving look, "It's not safe. For you, I mean. Turians and humans share different chilarities. That old dextro and levo opposition that means that we can't share food or drinks or... _fluid_ s. Don't you remember the Doc's recommendations?"

She gently caressed his cheek with her finger, fidgeting and shuffling on her seat, surprisingly shy at actually broaching the technicality of interspecies sexuality.

"I remember. We talked about us, about our _thing_ with the Doc..." he answered, grimacing in frustration at the unwelcome memory of the wizened doctor. "And do _you_ remember what he said about us?"

She fell silent and frowned, mandibles slightly quivering.

"He said that it is alright, innit?" he followed, closing in with her to hug her waist tenderly, "That we should be extra careful with cooking and drinking, to not mix up each others drinks. Don't ingest, that was his words, right?"

She hummed in confirmation.

"Key word being _ingesting_."

"Hm?"

"Meaning that as long as there is no _ingestion_ there is no danger, and even then, I'm not quite sure that it's true."

"What do you mean?" She cocked her head slightly on the side, sliding her hands over his shoulders again, her frown deepening in puzzlement.

"We kissed. We kissed a lot, didn't we?" he said with a smile, "We did some deep kissing together, and it was great. We swapped spit. And yet, no allergic reaction. We're still standing."

"Yes, it's true. But..." she trailed, searching for a counter-argument.

"Are you afraid of me doing such a great job with my tongue that I could start _drinking_ from you?"

Slack-jawed by his lewd boast, she opened her eyes wide and began to blabber a very flustered and indignant response. A large grin spread upon his face, happy to have stirred such a cute reaction out of her, and he pressed on his advantage.

"I'll be careful. I'll be _lovingly_ careful. I promise you."

"I-... You-... Idiot." She huffed and puffed, both kindled and annoyed, her green eyes throwing daggers at him. She exhaled in a loud exasperated sigh.

"I've researched things on the Extranet about it. It's easy to find plenty of stories of disastrous Dextro and Levo relationships that turned sour."

His smile faded from his face at her words. A strange feeling bloomed inside his lust-addled mind, a sudden clairvoyance, as if something inside him wanted to burst out to scream. He frowned and looked deep into her eyes, opening his heart to her about something he suspected from long ago.

"Turian Extranet is full of spooky stories because they are made up by bitter liars and xenophobic idiots among the Hierarchy in an attempt to scare free-spirited and good soldiers like you from mingling and experimenting and mating with monkeys like us."

She was stunned to silence by his sudden passionate outburst, eyes open wide and mandibles spread loose. A strange muffled hiccough rose from her throat that slowly grew into a barely restrained happy laughter. A hearty hilarity that spread to her eyes that shone with renewed glee, that made her entire body shake as she was tried her best to keep her composure.

"Key word being _mating._ " he followed with the same deadpan tone "It's all made-up propaganda."

She guffawed even more, hiding her open mouth behind her hand as she rocked gently back and forth. Then, with a moaning, shaking sigh, she laid her hand on the top of his head to gently scratch him behind his ear.

"Idiot. You're an idiot." she admonished, clearly using the term as a form of endearment, "So zealous and passionate over something so... lewd."

He frowned, realizing that his condemnation may have sounded slightly over-exaggerated. Unable to find an appropriate comeback, he simply pushed his head against her armored chest, nestling his head over where her heart would be. As she kept stroking and scratching at his hair, he felt her relax and relent in his slack embrace.

"Why are you so interested to bury your face here, of all places?" she asked, half-flattered, half-annoyed.

"Because I want to make you feel good." he whispered with genuine consideration. "You deserve it. It's something I want to do to you."

She hummed in quiet contemplation, and slightly shuffled on her seat again.

"There's some heavy risks associated with it."

"It would be worth it." he mumbled, pouting in her lap. "Besides, you said it before, didn't ya? I'm an idiot with a deathwish."

"You're not giving up, are you?"

"Only if you tell me you don't want it, I'll stop annoying you with-"

"I'm... _curious._ Tentatively curious." she admitted with the hint of fluster.

"Oh?"

"You always made it sounds like it's an amazing experience."

"I think you'd like it."

"And in the span of an hour or so since you showed up, you made me cry, you made me angry, you even somehow managed to make me laugh again. And now... You're trying to bury your face between my legs. Is this a common human way to apologize?"

He could only muster a weak, unsure "Maybe." as he squeezed her waist a little tighter, a pang of guilt needling through his heart.

"Fine then. Go ahead. I'll see if I accept your apology." she purred with a tantalizing tone, almost as a teasing dare.

His eyes opened wide, the lewd gears in his head were already back to spinning on overdrive now that she gave him the green light. He slowly slid his hands back on the edge of her black underwear that circled her taut hips. She wasn't fazed when he started pulling the intimate article of clothing slightly lower.

"But remember one thing." she stated while leaning back to rest her weight on her hands, hoisting her hips aloft to help him undress her. "If I have to bring your hide to the hospital because of your stupid idea-"

A surprised sigh stifled her voice in a knot as he laid his lips on the gentle curve of her now bare mons veneris.

"-I'm going to kill you." she exhaled through gritted teeth.

Slowly, teasingly, he pulled back her snug underwear down to her knees, her last line of defense against his hungry eyes. The black slip of delicate cloth rustled nicely against her toned legs, wedging itself in the hook formed by the mysterious bony outgrowth sprouting from behind her calves. She mumbled something that sounded almost like a reprimand, shook and shuffled her legs, bent over and freed the black cloth with an easy talon swipe. She quickly batted her long legs away, shaking off the tangled ball of clothing that gathered at her feet and wildly scattering them around. He chuckled to himself, finding the sight of his stoic lover struggling with the remnants of her form-fitting clothes a charming and almost comical thing.

Then, with a long content sigh, she straightened her shoulders and leaned slightly backward to rest her weight on the palm of her hands. Try as she might to appear composed and beckoning, nervous anticipation was easily readable across her alien features. From the way her mandibles discreetly but constantly jittered a few inches off her jaw to her tensed and stiff shoulder bearings, it was clear that something still troubled her mind. But he wasn't sure if it was simple, healthy apprehension or tenacious reluctances toward what would soon follow.

He frowned and smirked to himself, filled with the lewd determination to show her a good time. To bring her to a saccharine and pleasurable oblivion.

He scooted closer, letting the palm of his hands crawl back up her firm thighs in a long, smooth caress along the lines of her muscles, and with an easy push he nudged her thighs wider apart. His eyes traveled downward, starting at her flushed face down over the slight discoloration of her tan skin over her lower abdomen, until he caught the sight of the inconspicuous dark slit of her sex in the middle of her crotch. His hands slid over her waist in an embrace, the tip of his fingers finding a hold on the jutting iliac crest her hip bones. He was so close to her body now, but he inched closer still, until he could get a good look at his turian's lover exotic and alluring intimacy.

A simple tight, fleshy dark blue slit hidden between twin folds of soft and delicate skin. As a contrast to the firm, leathery, almost hardened texture of her naked skin, her upper thighs and lower abdomen always had a gentler, softer paler bloom to it, as if it was covered with young and flexible skin.

He nudged his head forward and look up to meet her in the eyes as he laid a slow and soft kiss over her labia, a kiss that turned deeper when he swiftly darted his tongue out to trace over the rim of her sex.

"Kiss on your sex." he whispered, locking eyes with her and trailing the last word in a teasing manner.

She let out a trailing sigh, but her body was still stiff and tense. He followed up by laying a few kisses along her inner thighs, trailing his lips against the softer skin before taking it in his mouth in a prickly nibble. He kept teasing her like this for a short while, lavishing languid caresses over her left thigh at first and then across her lower abdomen. He purposefully avoided giving attentions to her sex, instead delighting in kindling her frustration further. She groaned and frowned at him, mandibles gritting tight against her jaw, and her nervousness slowly transformed into a sort of... pleading annoyance. He chuckled at her stoic display of frustration and gently bit down on the taut skin of her upper thigh, breaking her silence with a muffled whimper, before carefully soothing the mark by a long wet lick that dawdled oh-so slowly across her tensed inner muscles, until his mouth finally found back the narrow groove of her sex.

He closed his eyes and brought his tongue to bear on her alien femininity, tracing over and against her slit in smooth and quick motions with the tip of his tongue at first. His jaw fell, and he pushed the flat of his tongue close against her in a couple of lapping strokes. He heard a tremor in his alien lover's exhalation that spurred him to repeat the same motions a little more deeper, a little more stronger. A longer lick to match a louder sigh, and a slower lap to match a shakier gasp. It was a slow, careful journey to tenderly explore his lover's most secret anatomy.

An earnest pathfinder of another kind.

An idle motion lead him to what felt like something small and stiff that crowned atop her slit, a discrete and hardened nub of flesh slightly hidden, slightly out of the way that he nonetheless knew well. He flicked his tongue against it and she suddenly gasped and twitched under him. A wicked smile spread across his face at having found his lover's weak spot again, this small inconspicuous little bit of hard flesh that needed tender care and careful handling, but brought honeyed mewls out of his aloof alien lover. He opened his eyes to look into hers and to nuzzled his chin gently against her mound, caressing her crotch with the hard rim of his jaw.

A curious expression crossed her features, a half-frown coupled with wildly jittering mandibles. She let out a strange humming sound, almost a trembling trill, and squirmed her hips under him until she suddenly jerked her body backward out of his reach.

"Your- your spiky hair!" she yelped.

Caught off guard by her reaction, he was dragged along by her sudden reaction and stumbled ungracefully forward until his nose crashed down on her crotch.

"Huh!? Huh!" he bleated clumsily, straightening himself the best he could.

"Your hair. Your... _beard_ thing." she said, visibly trying to stifle a giggle at his flailing, "It tickled! A bit too much."

"Huh. Oh." he chuckled, a bit abashed by his blunder "Sorry about that."

She cocked her head slightly on the side, letting her shoulders slump back as she leaned slightly behind, and her mandibles closed back against her jaw.

"Don't worry, you're doing a... a great job. So..." she cooed, shuffling on her seat and opening her legs a little wider and in a silent hint of sultry encouragement. "...Hm-?"

He smiled widely, a strange sense of lustful pride warming his heart at making his alien lover enjoy and ask for more a new kind of pleasurable activity. He scooted on his knees a bit closer to her, flashing her a wide grin.

"Gladly."

He hooked his arms under her thighs and slid his hands over her taut rump, securing her lower body in a tighter embrace. He couldn't resist the urge to gently cup and squeeze her firm rear while doing so, and he bit his lips at the feeling of its warmth and suppleness. A turian shapely bum under one's hand was, without a doubt, one of the galaxy's most refined act of decadence.

He closed his eyes and dove against her other thigh, restarting his little game of biting her skin and soothing the itch with a long lick that trailed back to her loins. He pursed his lips and kissed the furtive little nub of flesh that crowned her sex, using the tip of his tongue to gently and very carefully coax it out of its fleshy hideout. He heard her sighs getting slightly louder, with strangled, stifled moans that haunted her slow breathing.

How he wanted to bring out more of this sweet melody.

With one last suckling kiss, he pushed and smooched his lips close against her slit, taking her like one would do with a ripe, mellow fruit. With his nose flat against her skin, he instinctively breathed in deeply, taking in the heady, musky mixed scent of her sweat and sex. He delved his tongue deeper in, first with one long languid stroke and then with a series of quicker laps, and he could feel her alien femininity slowly bloom and open against the flat of his tongue. Something wet and tangy trickled inside his mouth, a faintly acidulous or maybe metallic aftertaste...

Something metallic and curiously... _minty_ that oddly made him remember his first refreshing sip of the new limited edition Mint Tupari.

He felt strangely compelled to intensify his efforts, to check and double-check if what he tasted was what he really thought. His jaw fell lower, his tongue became greedier, and his mind slowly began to collapse upon itself, drowning in her intoxicating warmth. He felt her sex slowly bloomed under his assaults, and so he lapped and suckled, kissed and lavished at her core. Her husky breath became ragged and distant, peppered with a few quiet moans. The sound of her frantic breathing made him perk up. He wanted to read her pleasure on her face. As their gaze locked into each others, her entire body shivered and her mandibles fluttered wide open. She tilted her head slightly backward, looking down at him through half-closed eyes, and let out an adorable gasp. An alluring blend of pleasure and pride shone across her features, a telltale clue that she seemed to greatly enjoy the view. Her excitement was wonderfully contagious, and he too began to feel affected by her writhing and stirring. His own sex began to harden and grow, painfully stirring inside the restraint of his pants. He gathered his focus back on her, gave her a defiant look, and let his tongue run slowly along her slit, eliciting another lovely moans out of her.

She inhaled sharply and gritted her teeth in a strangled purr, her hips rocked in a jerky spasm, lurching forward and bumping hard against his face. Sensing her sudden rush of pleasure, he kept up the offensive and pushed his tongue harder and deeper inside her. At first, she let out a quiet and trailing hum, then she winced, held her breath and tensed up, seemingly bracing herself against his affections. A peculiar suckling kiss upon her most sensitive place broke through her aloof countenance, as a sudden spasm jolted her hips against his face.

Her expression faltered, her mandibles opened wide, and from her strangled voice came a simple and barely restrained "Ah!"

His jaw started to strain from the effort, but he still did his best for her to savor the moment as much as he savored her. Then, once he heard her breathing slow down, he smiled at her and pulled his face back from between her thighs. Her tall figure stood out in the dim light, shadows crisscrossing across the chiseled pattern of her thoracic armor while a thin sheen of sweat shimmered over her naked skin. After taking in the delight of marvelling at her toned body, his eyes were naturally drawn to what laid bare between her open legs. Saliva, sweat and her own wetness glistened around her narrow sex, split ever so slightly ajar to reveal the striking fleshy blue color of her hidden inner folds. It was a maddening, obscene invitation. He gulped hard, unable to take his eyes off her alien femininity, his lips feeling oddly dry, a base and primordial part of him compelling him to go back for her, to taste her core once more, to quench his carnal thirst with and through her. She let out a small frustrated whimper, slouching her shoulders and opening her legs a little wider, looking mighty impatient, wishing to be touched again. Inadvertently, he slid his right hand from behind her, brushing under her thigh, and reached for her alluring sex. From the tip of his fingers, he at first circled around her supple outer folds, then ran up and down the hollow line of her slit in a careful and gentle caress. As he felt his digits becoming slick and wettish, he bit down on his lip, turned his wrist over, folded all but his long finger and gently, oh-so gently pushed.

"Hm... Hm!"

His finger sunk easily inside a dense, sticky heat. A furnace of flesh, snug and squishy, that minutely wrenched at his intruding digit. She let out a strange, almost relieved sigh, and pushed her hips down to seat on his knucklebones.

"Hmmm..."

He looked up, locking his eyes with her, and hooked his finger inside her to stroke at her innermost crux. A slick caress from inside-out, across the strange, spongy texture of her insides, searching for her most vulnerable weak spot amidst dancing flesh. She huffed and tensed up, letting out a grunting, strained sigh, and moved her hips to follow the come-hither motion his buried finger was making. Hungry pleasure shone in her green eyes, and he could feel something wet and warm trickling over his wrist, but her shoulders suddenly went stiff and her body tense. Despite -or maybe because of- her pleasure, his turian lover still seemed tensed and alert, like a coiling spring that would not release, as if some obstinate part of her fought against her carnal lust. He smirked, amused at the resurgence of her stoic side.

"Come on. Relax." he cooed softly, shuffling on his knees to draw closer to her, shifting his left hand under her other thigh "You're always so tense. Relax. Lie back, let me do the work."

Her mandibles clicked against her jaw, but she did not move, only letting out a murmuring sigh when he withdrew his wet finger out of her.

"Lie down, just enjoy the ride." he said before leveling his head against her glistening sex again, puffing his cheek to blow hot air against her sensitive flesh. He moved his hands to rest just over the bend between her loin and thighs, moved his thumbs together over her slit and gently, carefully spread the supple skin outward, unveiling the hearty blue color of her secret intimacy in a luscious bloom. Then, he extended his tongue and embraced her sex in his mouth, lapping and stroking at the deeper reaches of her core, searching to stir more of that musky, iron-tasting nectar out of her. His moves were more aggressive, more passionate. The flat of his tongue slid strongly over her, prodded against her. She writhed and twisted her waist, a strange pleading mewl escaping through her mandibles. As if surprised by the sound of her own voice, she tensed up and straightened on her seat, looking down at him with a glint of defiance in her deep green eyes.

"If I laid back, how-... oh. How would I be able to enjoy the view?"

She moved her hand over the side of his head, gently carding his hair over his ear from the tip of her sharp thumb in encouragement.

"I really- Mmah!... I like how awfully cute you look down there, pyjaak." she purred teasingly, greatly enjoying her position of dominance over him.

He smirked and squinted at her in response, moving his lips upward in a languid stroke to suckle at a peculiar furtive swollen nub of flesh that he coaxed out of hiding. She let out a surprised gasp, her voice breaking into a shrill thrill for a second before she let out a bawdy snicker.

"You finally found -ah... hm!- finally found a good use for that loud mouth of yours. Ah. Ah!"

"And you're making some awfully cute noises up there." he retorted, perking up from between her legs. "And you're getting… quite excited down here."

"Huh, hah. And who's fault is that?"

"Mine." he said, a devilish smile upon his face, before delving back to her, sending his tongue to meet back the grooved trail of her slit.

She furrowed her brow and suddenly flinched, halting her breath with a strangled noise. Her hand clutched around the back of his head and a long, wild shiver transfixed her entire body. All of the sudden, her abdominal muscles convulsed and she threw her head backward. Her abrupt movements twisted her body off balance, and she only managed to catch herself by letting herself fall backward, sinking on her elbow, and throwing her legs in the air to dangle helplessly around his shoulders. Oscillating between a brutal state of total tenseness and brief moments where her entire body eased and relaxed, her throes of agonizing pleasure became a mesmerizing sight he couldn't take his eyes off. He made the motions of his tongue grow faster and wilder. He lapped at her wet core with great fervor, punctuating each streak of rapid licks and flicks of his tongue with languid kisses against her blooming flesh. Her long legs extended in the air, opening wide like the wings of an alien butterfly, and he felt the prickly hint of her taloned toe-claw coming to rest on his shoulders.

"Nnh-hrm! Hi-higher. There… There!"

Her belly moved and danced in undulating waves, and she was beginning to answer and support in earnest the motions of his mouth against her. She hid her mouth behind a balled first, but the sound of her ragged and harried breath cascaded out of her quivering mandibles.

His world has come undone, collapsing into the shape of her lissom body that writhed and shivered in pleasure. His jaw felt sore and painful, yet he couldn't stop but lap and wonder at the queer tangy taste of the wetness that rolled over his aching tongue. He breathed in deep, taking in the heady, earthy scent that permeate her soaked sex. The distant drumming of his own heart thumped to his mind, mixing with the intoxicating echo of her restrained moans. His own arousal fed from her carnal bliss, and his galloping excitement translated to a painful throb coming from his hard manhood, still constricted by the tightness of his clothes. His hands found the way to the buckles and clasps of his belt by their own, undoing restraints with blind ease, and he pulled down his underwear to free his readying sex. He ached for her, wanted to feel her, to be one with her, but he instead kept simply lapping away, pushing back this feverish animalistic urge behind the clear-headed desire to drive his alien lover to her own climax.

Her hips bumped against his nose, and he mechanically stuck out his tongue a little further. Her slit stroked against his chin, and he pushed it against her without really thinking. A spark of sudden lucidity made him realise that she had begun to move and rub against him on her own accord, seeking her own pleasure. Her head was thrown back, mandibles opening and closing in rhythm with her staggering breathing, and she was gently rocking her hips up and down against his tongue. He smiled to himself and stood still, feeling her taloned hand stroke through his hair, guiding him with minute motions, handling him with a delicate touch. His tongue lazily drew random wet shapes against her, letting her simply play with herself using his mouth. Strums of lovely low moans of pleasure escaped her throat, amplifying in loudness and ardor as the rhythm of her motion grew more passionate. His perception of time slowed down to a crawl, set ablaze by her sensuality. Touch and taste soon became the only senses monopolizing his attention, and he began to follow the oscillating music of her sighs, driving back inside her, taking her soaked sex back in his mouth in a voracious suckle. As his tongue drove deep among her yielding folds, her fingers suddenly bent and raked through his hair, back and forth and once again.

"Hm. Ah. Hm. Hm!"

Something wet and warm filled his mouth, with an odd tangy coppery taste. Instinct made him spit out the alien fluid, and he withdrew his tongue from her slit. His ragged breath cascaded over her shimmering sex, and she let out a whimper at being forsaken by him, her fingers sliding from the top of his head to his cheek to gently pull him back towards her, her sharp fingers scratching through his beard. Sensing her need, he hooked his arm over her thigh to brace against it, keeping it securely open, and brought his other hand to her crotch. A single caress from the tip of his fingers against the fleshy blue line of her femininity was enough to send a tremor across her body. He flicked his wrist sideways, making his index and middle finger stand out straight, and entered her sweltering snugness with ease.

"Oh. Oh! Wai-ah... Wait." she suddenly cried out, throwing her hands over to grasp tightly at each side of the table, holding on the steel edges like a shipwrecked soul lost in a ferocious storm. His fingers pushed against the slick and silken texture of her burning core, and her voice died down in a strange choking croak. He slid inside her in a slow, steady seesawing caress, driving himself further inside her, until he noticed that her entire body rocked back and forth along his fingers. As if the echo of his touch reverberated into her every muscle, into her very being.

It was an intoxicating thought. To have his tall and strong turian lover, whose inner flame made him feel dim and wavering, writhing here in the throes of pleasure. To have her supine form twist and dance from the lightest caress. To be able to bring her such exuberant life and bliss...

It was a vertiginous oblivion.

...And she made him feel like he had a taste of immortality.

A strange instinct moved him to bring his mouth to her inner thigh and bite down on her supple and taut skin, as if gnawing down on her would help alleviate the painful strain that creeped through his wrist. She yelped and let out a true, genuine moan that she swallowed back almost immediately.

"Don't fight it." he mumbled, exhaling loudly as his fingers moved a little faster, a little deeper. "Let go."

"I- I'm. You. Rrh!" she tried to speak, mandibles fluttering wide and slack.

"You're... Damn beautiful."

"Ah. Ah!"

He closed his eyes and left a kiss where he bit her, crawled his lips over the bend between her thigh and hips, ghosting over the curve of her mons pubis, and finally trailed back down along the line of her bloomed slit. He pushed his tongue out and ran across her wet smouldering heat in a long deep stroke, then closed his lips over the little nub of hard flesh that crowned her alien femininity. There, he closed his eyes and gently suckled at the raw blue bud, letting it roll over the flat of his tongue in small and smooth circles.

"Oh… No. Ah! Wait!" she trilled, a sudden shaking pitch of desperation echoing in her voice.

There was a lewd squelch, and he felt her sex squeeze and spasm around his delving fingers, her very flesh clung and stuck to him in a maddening snugness. She let out a trailing wheeze and suddenly jolted, shaking herself and lifted her shoulders off the table.

"Wait. Rrh! No! Da-aah. Cheater! You're- arh. Going to m-make me-"

She kicked her long legs around and stamped on the ground, making her elongated claws squeal on the smooth floor as she try to find her balance back. He could barely move his fingers inside her anymore, trapped by the remarkable vice-like grip of her tightening sex. He withdrew his hand from her and moved his arms under her thighs, squeezing them firmly and securely as he nuzzled his face a little further against her. Her ragged and husky voice conveyed contradictory emotions, she called out his name in a groaning pleased whisper one moment, then madly cursed him through gritted teeth the very next second. His tongue pushed and stroked, lapped and rolled, running over and against her blossoming sex like the steadfast tide. She let out a strangled cry, and he felt her thighs brusquely closing around his head, squeezing down on his temples and locking him in place.

"Rrh... Rrhh-mhh... Mmh-ah."

He heard her say mutter something meaningless that he could not make out clearly, and he felt her hands raking through his hair. She tugged and drove him so close against her that his perception soon became nothing more than the dark, damp and musky haven of her sex against his face. A shelter of comfortable skin and warm wetness that smelled of her, of her sweat, of her pleasure...

His mind melted inside this intoxicating sanctuary, but his tongue kept labouring at her very core in long strokes, stirred by a carnal and voracious zeal. He delved his tongue in with long furrowing strokes, flicked and parted her most intimate folds and-

"Anh-!"

She bucked her hips against him and yelped loudly in half-panic, half pleasure. A reward of fluid tangy warmth leaked inside his mouth, trickling down his beard and chin. Her hands kneaded through his hair in a seemingly desperate attempt to pull him away, but finding no hold through his short hair she grasped and clenched the curve of his skull tightly against her. Every caress of his tongue seemed to send a jolt through her like liquid fire, every stroke making her thighs squeeze and twitch around his head. In the snug and heady darkness of her confining embrace, he imagined how her adorable face would twist and curl into an expression of delicious agony, or how her mandibles would flutter out and click against her jaw. His mind reeled at the sight of how gorgeous a sight the apex of her carnal pleasure would be...

This was his life now.

He answered the irregular jumps of her bucking hips with careful licks and suckling kisses, helping his turian lover ride out the waves of fire of her writhing climax to their saccharine end. After an ultimate transfixing spasm, her tensed fingers finally uncurled and she breathed out her solace in a single hoarse sigh that trailed off, almost as if she exhaled all the air of her lungs in a single breath. She lazily opened her legs around his head and her hands fell to his shoulders, as if he had robbed her of her strength.

He reflexively spit out the acidulated cyprine that gathered in his mouth, idly remembering her warnings about _ingesting_ , and looked up with a wide dopey grin plastered over his face, beads of her liquid pleasure glistening in his beard, like the most lewd proof of carnal triumph. But before he could revel in the sight of her honeyed expression, she flopped backward onto the table, hiding her face behind the palm of her hands as her hips shook in one final subtle twitch. She rubbed her eyes, mandibles fluttering loose around her jaw, and let out a satisfied mewling hum.

"Pretty good, innit? Looks like you enjoyed yourself a lot love." he boasted, burning the sight of her slithering afterglow into his memory. "Now, I was right, right? There's nothing better than a _broad_ and _nimble_ tongue to-"

"S-Shut up, idiot." she curtly said, suddenly springing upward into a sitting position. "You... You!"

She reached out, wrapping the palms of her hands over his cheek, and tilted his head towards her. He chuckled, surprised by her sudden reaction, and saw her leaning just a few inches from his face, her soft panting blowing hot air against him. Her mandibles clicked and she slightly frowned as she looked deep into his eyes, as if she was carefully waiting for something to happen. She carefully turned his head to the side, softly humming to herself, as if scrutinizing an unruly primitive lifeform, and studied the rest of his face with the same serious intent. Her closeness to him allowed him to gaze at the sight of her troubled face. Her mandibles were still very lightly fluttering against her jaw, corroborating the glint of worry that shone through her heavy lidded eyes. A strange pang of defeat needled against his heart, as he felt that despite her surrender to the bliss of a new carnal experience, despite that intimate moment they shared, she wasn't able to completely let go of that worried spark in her eyes.

"Hm. You... Look alright to me. You didn't... _ingest_ anything, right?" she mumbled before her eyes dawned on his dank beard, "Oh. Your beard hair looks... soaked."

Her agitated expression faltered with a flash of fluster, her mandibles yawning wide and loose for a brief instant. A rare and genuine abashment lit up her alien features, and he found it positively adorable.

"Well, who do you think is at fault for that?" he impudently grinned.

She threw him a cold scornful look, the same one she'd use when she wouldn't bother to humor his jokes about noodles and krogan mercenaries.

"Yours. And mine. And your tongue's." she quipped back with a warm tone, catching him off-guard with her blunt admission. "What you did felt... good."

"Oh?"

"But it was still reckless... impudent." she admonished half-heartedly, her hands sliding from his face to his shoulders, "Anaphylactic shock is a real risk when a levo organism ingests a dextro-based... Huh..."

She stumbled over her word, and his smile deepened.

"Fluid?"

She nodded and hummed back.

"Told you it was all propaganda hogwash, innit? I'm still standing, and you got to experience the good work of a cunning linguist."

"Huh?" she frowned, not understanding his ribald pun.

He still chuckled at his own joke, and assuaged her. "Nothing. I'm just glad you enjoyed yourself."

She hummed back and tilted her head downward, her eyes trailing over his body until she was staring directly at his crotch, where his own sex was popping out of his black boxers, erect and ready. She glared up at him beneath browplates, mandibles clicking and a strange lively glint shining renewed in her green eyes...

A kind of predatory sparkle.

"Hah!" His lips felt dry and he swallowed hard, suddenly very aware of his own arousal. "Dare me to kiss you?"

She let out a sly chuckle and hummed a go-ahead, crossing her long arms over the nape of his neck to draw him closer. Pushing on his balled fist, he hoisted himself to eagerly meet her lips with his own. However, his playful lover dipped her body backwards at the last second, deftly evading his lips and nearly sending him tumbling over her again. A strangled noise escaped his throat as he reflexively tried to balance himself on his knuckles, thumping on the table like a klutzy gorilla, carried away by the sudden impetus and her hearty giggle and having to raise into a half-kneeling, half-standing stance. With a joyful peal of laughter, she hugged him close and suddenly leaned upwards with all her strength. The hard ridges of her carapaced torso scraped and pricked his skin, then her gentle laughter was suddenly silenced, replaced by the alien limestone-like texture of her mouth upon his lips.

He closed his eyes instinctively, his mind and focus fully captured by her embrace. She held him tight and close, rocking ever so gently to and fro as she pressed on with her kiss. Her hot, avid breath fell on his skin in a tickling, harried rhythm and still carried on the lingering scent of her sex. Her tongue surreptitiously slinked by, brushing over his wet lips, eager for him to respond in kind. For a few trailing moments, his whole world boiled down to the simple feeling of strong arms over his shoulders, of the rough and chafing texture of her armored bosom pressing against his...

And the maddening, kindling wet assaults of an aggressive alien tongue.

When she broke the kiss with a small sigh he was still frozen in place, awkwardly bent double over her in a primate-like posture. Opening his eyes once more, he saw her lick over her lips with a quizzical frown upon her features., as if trying to determinate a strange taste left by their shared kiss. Her gaze locked with his and she flicked her slender tongue to catch a few beads of shimmering wetness over the brim of her mouth. Her mandibles shut tight, and despite the stern nature of the turian's visage, there was a knowing and playful glint in her squinting eyes. His eyes opened wide when he understood what he, or she made herself do, and the realization hammered through his mind like a sizzling firecracker. The fantasy of having his strong and rough alien lover have, deliberately or not, a _taste of herself_ sent his lust-addled mind into overdrive, sending an eager twitch down to his restless manhood. He **wanted** her, right here, right now, and more than ever.

"Good job." she purred huskily, sliding her arms over his shoulders to his torso, beaming with an expression of coy pride. Overwhelmed by impatience, he straightened himself and frantically reached for the remaining fasteners of his half-open belt, eager to mirror his lover's own state of undress. A curse and a click later, the heavy strap fell to the ground in a dull thud. She chuckled warmly at his feverish restlessness, and he felt the tip of her talons travel downward, along the lines of his abdomen, before tugging and pulling at his pants. On the spur of his excitement, he let out a goofy, boorish guffaw, carried on by the mental image of taking his lovely alien darling right here on the table. Oh, to see her supine form twist and writhe in pleasure again...

He put his boot on the edge of the low table, bending forward and untying the seals with harried speed before kicking his foot free, sending the discarded boot tumbling under the table. As if to tease him by adding a maddening degree of difficulty, she pulled down his pants and underwear in one smooth fell swoop when he put his leg back down. The uncooperative tight fabric nudged itself in the bend of his knee, and the way she was tugging at it almost made him fall backward. In fact, an erratic hip movement while attempting to reach for his other boot from behind his back made him lose balance and he felt himself fall forward.

A stroke of luck, or maybe a good reflex, made him instinctively reach for her shoulders. His hands fell on her wide ovoid collar-bone, letting him find his balance back despite the hard ridge digging in his palms. Grumbling and swearing under his breath, he bent his leg backward and twisted both hips and shoulders to be able to reach the troublesome straps of his remaining boot. He tugged and pulled, squeezing hard on the alien bone, arching his back in an uncomfortable angle. With a quick swipe, the seal of his boot was released, and a few wild flailings quickly helped kick off the annoying shoe off his foot. That's when he finally registered the strange coarse and grainy texture that brushed against his sensitive manhood. A pang of dread needled itself in his heart as he looked down, still shuffling on his foot to keep balance and hanging on for dear life via his lover's collarbone.

Without even realizing it, he had been rubbing his hard and erect sex quite obscenely right against her cheek. Opened wide and looking rather shocked, her eyes were looking up at him from under a heavy frown. Her mandibles quivered restlessly around her half-agape jaw as she let out a muffled whimper of surprise. His mind, and his body, froze up completely as a wave of panic coldly crawled down his spine.

"You... _Idiot._ " she mumbled, cold fury rumbling through her low voice.

"I- a-huh. Not. S-sorry." he blabbered nervously. "I di-didn't mean to-"

He pulled his hips away from her face in a flash, quickly taking out his hand from her ridged collarbone as if he just touched fire and almost tripping himself into falling backward once again.

"You're impossible. You shake that flappy funny bit of yours... Right in front of my face?" she kept admonishing, with the same face that she used to put on when she had to play _bad cop._ "Is this a common practice among humans to do such... _lewd_... _things?"_

 _"_ I really didn't mean to-... To... Huh?"

Her scowl deepened and her mandibles shook slightly wider, but her mouth curved into a something of a sly smile. A mischievous glint shone in her eyes and a strange quiet snicker escaped her. Confusion set itself in his heart and a heavy frown fell upon his brow, mouth still slightly agape in surprise. When she leaned her back far away from him, he realized that she, somehow, _deliberately_ moved her body ahead so that her face would nuzzle against his member. Her shoulders shuddered wildly as a peculiar sardonic, snickering laugh shook her to the core. No longer in her eyes shone that ember of cold ire, but a spark of rumbustious playfulness.

An uneasy feeling of having been had, hook line and sinker, suddenly brought warmth to his cheeks and fluster to his mind.

"Wha-What?"

"The look on your face!" she laughed some more before wiping away a tear. "Like a startled pyjaak! Flailing around just like one too!"

"You-... Why?" he asked, feeling mighty vexed.

"Why what?"

"Why did you put your face on my dick?" he barked with vehemence.

The ridges over her flat nose flared wildly as she let out a mocking snort.

"Well... You _were_ shaking that wobbly, funny bit of yours right in front of my eyes." she said, illustrating her words by raising a hand to suggestively bob and weave a finger around, "I just thought I could use the opportunity to rile you up a little... And it worked, didn't it?"

"That's-"

"'Despite everything I'll always find your _thing_ a bit ridiculous." she added, looking straight at his erect sex with a quizzical look. "It just looks so different. It's all... Flabby, thick and... _Mushroomy,_ I'd say. Oh, and there's all this dangling... _stuff_ under it. So funny."

"Hey, that's-"

"Not that I mind. Not at all." she said, affection and desire mixing in her voice, sending a lustful spark through his spine. A whirlpool of conflicting emotions stormed in his heart: vexation mixed with affection, lust blended with hurt.

"That ain't funny. Ain't funny to scare someone like that." he huffed and puffed in frustration, hopping on his feet and shuffling around to finally slide his legs out of his annoying pants. The discarded trousers and underwear were then unceremoniously kicked away, out of sight and out of mind.

"First I make you worry and angry and all." he mumbled, straightening himself in front of her, "Thought I'd really done it if I somehow slapped your face with-"

His words trailed into a sudden long sigh when her hand reached and carefully grasped at the root of his erect sex. He couldn't help but look at the way her fingers began to gently move to and fro along his length. His lips felt suddenly dry as something warm and raw wormed through him.

"Apologies for the scare then." she said with a kind tone, catching back his focus to her painted face, "It was just a little prank, don't worry about it."

Despite the slow pace of her pumping hand over his sex, it felt oddly hypnotic to him. As if, after neglecting his own state of high arousal and having his heart toyed with discordant emotions, her very gentle attention all but robbed him of his strength and thoughts. All of the sudden, his lips had become stone and he couldn't help but simply breathe in and out in rhythm with ups and downs of her loving touch. She watched for his reactions from below, adjusting the rhythm and tightness of her hand according to the tide of his breath. A short while into this tender, comfortable masturbation,he noticed how his turian lover was becoming equally affected. She was breathing more loudly, her motions increased in vigor and tempo, and there was a distinct look of deep, chilling want in her eyes. For each time her fingers rose to ring around his crown, they would clutch and slide down his length a little tighter, a little faster, sending waves of droning pleasures through his lower abdomen.

Her gaze fell directly on his hard, pulsing sex that her hand enraptured. She cocked her head slightly to the side as she worked him restlessly, mandibles slightly fidgeting around her chin, her breath low and husky, as if she was becoming as drunk in the moment as him. She brought her skillful fingers to bear at his very tip, and in a gentle caress pulled back the sensitive skin that covered his glans, sending a prickling chill through his every nerves. A bead of clear, viscous fluid trickled from his tip, rolling down his length and over her finger as a liquid proof of his readiness. Once her hand finally came to rest at his root, she let out a long content sigh, looking at his full erection with a strange degree of longing. Before the lull let him regain his senses, she leaned forward until her head was just inches away from his manhood. His eyes grew wider in surprise when she brushed her mouth against his gleaming sex, her hot breath falling deliciously on his naked skin. She pushed her blank lips against him, throwing him a transfixing, almost daunting stare from below that contrasted with her chaste kiss. Something flat, wet and warm curled underneath his length...

Her tongue slinked by, weakly lapping at the reddened head of his manhood. A gentle and meek caress that still burned its way to his very core. Her stern gaze, her firm grip, her shy tongue... All branded to the depth of his heart in letters of pleasure-fire.

It was the first time she'd done anything like this to him.

Such a rousing sight left a blazing trail through his mind. Through the smoke of a myriad of fantasies, he memorized every detail of her intense stare looking up at him, of her shy licks and laps. Carried on by the fantasy of what it would feel like to rest on the flat of her tongue, engulfed in the sultry heat of her alien mouth, he bit down on his lips and shivered with delight. To think of her beautiful turian self doing such decadence to a _pyjaak_ like himself was a kindling image in itself, especially considering his alien lover's previous disfavor to such erotic play. However, her bewitching caress was as incredible as it was brief, for her piercing focus soon crumbled away into an expression of shy surprise. She withdrew her tongue and backed off, throwing him a strange look of hesitation before laying a timid peck at the tip of his trembling erection, leaving him slightly confused and unfulfilled at her sudden change of heart. As she began to gently stroke his sex again through slow and tight pumping motions, he noticed how her mandibles were idly quivering against her jaw. Nervousness was easily readable in her expression, was she having second thoughts?

"Hey, that thing you did... with your tongue." he called out, shivers in his husky voice. "It was real grand, y'know?"

"Hm-hm?" she perked up, locking eyes with him. "You liked?"

"I _very_ liked." he answered with a large grin.

She let out an acknowledging hum, and an exciting whisper, "Good to know."

"W-why did you stop? You don't like it?"

"No it's- Huh... I-" she stuttered with a mandible click, a heavy frown looming over her eyes again, "It's just... New to me. Too new, maybe. Don't think I'd do justice to-... Huh. Hm. I've never done it before and-."

She let out a frustrated grunt and clammed up, an annoyed look on her face, almost like she got irked by the sound of her own voice. A little smile crept up his face at her demureness. Somehow, his tall and strong alien lover could push through what the most angry krogan drug lord could throw their way, but she'd chicken out of such an intimate act. For fear of inexperience? Of inadequacy? It was oddly fitting for her, in a cute way.

"I wouldn't mind you doing it again, you know?" he cooed, still inhabited by the fantasy of seeing his hard sex disappear in the sultry heat of her mouth.

"Hmpf!"

She shot him a mean black look before letting out a long, weary sigh.

"Look, I'll remember that, but..."

She released his sex and put the palm of her hand over his groin, pressuring him so that he'd take a few step back. Then, once he gave her enough space, she sprung from her seat and rose on her long legs. Now towering over him with all the glory of her turian nakedness, she slid her arms around his waist and pulled him close.

"It's not fair that you boss me around in my own home, get to have all the fun..." she said with a low, husky voice, hugging him a bit closer to her as she slowly started to pivot her body on the side, guiding him in her step. She craned her head forward, leveling her mandible just few inches away his ear.

"You said it yourself. You want me to be selfish. Hm? Well... I'm seeing something I want."

Carefully, she let him understand that he was to move backward with her step, and he was all too content to let himself be guided by her. Slowly, gently, their intertwined bodies moved in tandem, locked in the slow-motion step of a dance.

"I know what I want. I want **you**. I've always wanted you."

Honeyed words fell in his ear in hushed and hot flanged whispers, sending chills down his spine. Her voice felt like a liquid caress, soaking through his skin and enrapturing his mind. He'd drown in her murmur.

"I want you. I want your skin. I want your kiss."

He felt her sharp lips closing down on the auricle of his ear, and then a teasing, mellow nibbling that robbed his breath away. Something hard bumping behind his calf. The couch. But she pulled him tighter still, until his own raging sex was flattened between his belly and the delta of her crotch. It felt warm. It felt wet.

"And I want you here. And I want you now. And I'll be getting what I want."

A push, and he was falling backward like a collapsing statue. A strained grunt escaped his throat when his back bounced on the hard synthetic leather. When he opened his eyes he was lying flat on the couch, head nestled in the corner between the armrest and backrest, one leg dangling pitifully on the side with his foot still on the ground.

"So... _lie down and enjoy the ride._ " she parroted him, mimicking the same intonation and cocky confidence and adding her own predatory tune. She followed him in silence, slinking slowly toward him, making the couch creak and whine as she moved to her mark. Then, once her body aligned with his, she pushed her body down to pin, straddling him with her wide hips, and ran her long taloned hands across his chest. A gentle press to better nestle herself against his lap and she straightened herself, the sound of her deep breathing encroaching his mind. She was towering over him, her spiky silhouette outlined by the backlit window and the vertiginous cosmos behind.

She was a sublime sight.

Grinning widely, he marveled at his alien lover overlying him. His hands moved over her knees to rub and caress at the firm thighs that kept him happily pinned down under her. The palm of her hands found purchase around the back of his own, keeping them secured against her warm skin as she started to move her hips to-and-fro. Through gentle and deliberate motions she began stroking the wet and fleshy slit of her sex against his hardened length, soaking it with her trickling wetness. A wet warmth spread from her core, bathing his lower body with the titillating promise of her torrid softness. With a sigh, she added a little more pressure, a little more strength to her sway, and a slick lewd sound began to rise from her crotch with each new motion. Pure, undiluted pleasure burgeoned in his gut, and with it the burning thirst that called out for her. To embrace her. To seek her. To feel her. She let out a husky grunt and released one of his hands to grasp firmly at his soaked erection, adding the tightness of her palm to the motions of her hips. As she breathed out a content sigh, his eyes met up with hers. She was beaming with a frisky and kittenish expression, seemingly greatly enjoying her domineering position over him. She pulled his sex close against hers, until his tip brushed against a small, unseen little pearl of flesh. Her plated brow twitched, and she began to grind herself against him, letting out long and drawn out breaths between each set of gyrations. A strange and arousing act of masturbation that stirred obscene and arousing sounds of her sleek sex. He watched her while biting his lips at the intense feeling, yet it was the inviting heat that radiated out of her that obsessed him. A deep and thunderous hunger that called for another kind of pleasure...

"Hurm... That's good but... Hrm-"

"Hm-hm?"

With a coy hum, she lifted her hips off him and braced her other hand on his belly. Then, with a compelling squeeze, she angled his erection straight up, aiming it directly toward the inconspicuous hollowed slit that glistened in the shadows. He couldn't pry off his gaze from the mighty sight of her crotch, hovering oh so close to him. She made him search and prod, until all was in place and aligned, until she could finally release his root and begin to descend, until...

She sunk slowly on him, letting both of them savor the shivering delight of ingress. Her sodden sex offered a bare and easy resistance to his penetration, and soon a comfortable and smoldering heat engulfed him whole. A snug and scalding tightness that robbed him of reason. This was it, this was his life now.

She let out a quiet, purring moan while gyrating her hips ever so gently, to better nestle against his lap until she could completely sink to his root.

"Oh man. Ha-ah! That's insane." he snickered aloud.

"Ha-ah… good..."

She felt warm, and wet, and soft in every good way. Her core was made of lush heat and fleshy pleasure. A rousing feeling of powerful triumph took hold of his heart as he set his eyes on his alien lover, linked with him in the most intimate way. She let out a quiet, happy hum of approval, mandibles tightly closed against her jaw as she took a minute to savor the moment.

Then, with a long exhalation, she begun settling for a gentle rhythm of raising and sinking her hips on him, punctuating the flow of their breathing. It made for an incredibly relaxing experience, one that sent warm chills through his neck and belly as he surrendered himself to her warmth. His hands were on her hips, firmly grasping at the coarse ridge of her jutting hip bone as she slowly bobbed up and down. As she grinded herself on him, he sneaked his fingers around her waist, letting his fingers rake gently downward along her firm abdominal muscles until he could reach and cup at her taut rear. He rubbed and kneaded at her lovely behind, greatly enjoying the idyllic familiar feeling of its weight and firmness in the palm of his hands.

"Hm... Ah."

"Hah."

"...-'s feel great. Real great."

"Ah. Yeah."

"Hm."

"Touch me." she softly whispered.

The palm of his hands drew wide mirrored circle on her, an all-encompassing caress that swept through her entire lower body. From waist to glutes, from rear to thighs and all the way back again. With a soft hum, she straightened herself and reared back, crossing her arms over the top of her head to give him better access to her stomach and accentuating the way she towered over him. Her slender form swayed to and fro, smoothly swaying over him like candlelight in the breeze. Each undulation of her lithe belly echoed downward toward her hips, making each wave of her abdomen reverberate to her innermost core. Along the tidal rhythm of her movement, a chord of wet _slish-slosh_ began to tune up along her lovely, purring sighs. With a peculiar strong push against his lap, she buried him deep inside her, until the small patch of hair that crowned his root melded with the glistening shadow of her mons.

"Omh... Mmh..."

As his hands lavished her belly with long strokes, she shivered and stretched her arms a little tighter around her head. Then, she began to move her hips in a tight spiral, enrapturing him in her innermost, narrowing warmth. As gyrations gained more subtle amplitude, she tilted her head downward and threw him a transfixing gaze...

As if she was laying her eyes on some kind of primitive life form she was having her way with, there was a fierce pride in her expression. A regal form of hearty, steadfast assertiveness. Combined with the exalted lust that shone in her hungry eyes, her spiky physique of chiseled plates and sculpted bones gave her an air of otherworldly beauty. Like a beautiful and terrible alien idol, something worthy of worship and devotion.

There was a content, fierce glint in her eyes. She seemed so proud to finally make him _her_ _own_. Speechless, he couldn't but marvel at his turian lover, enraptured by her amazonian beauty. Love, lust and reverence mixed in his addled mind, indistinguishable from one another...

"Mighty... Beaut'." he mumbled in a shaky voice.

"Aah...? Wha-?" she lazily answered, tilting her head askew.

"You're so... damn magnificent."

"Oh...?" she cooed with a moan.

"You're... really something else."

She let out a quiet snicker and adjusted herself, aligning his length inside her, and rewarded his clumsy compliment by a decisive thrust of her hips. A wave of fire pooled in his abdomen, streaming in to his every nerves and setting his addled mind alight.

He wanted her. Craved her. Needed to take her for his own.

His hands fell on her waist, his fingers finding purchase on her flared hip bone. There, he held on firmly to guide her, to imprint this new delightful movement to her motions. Now, she was beginning to bob up and down on him, letting him shiver in the delight of feeling himself sliding deeper inside her lush sex. The change of tempo and angle made her bow slightly forward, and she braced herself by leaning on his lower abdomen. A jagged and eager wave that made each ingress a delightful treat.

"I love the way... you look." he let out, breathless. "I love... Oh..! The way you move... The rrh- way you... Hrmm!"

A husky, sudden little yelp rolled out of her throat. Her mandibles limped away from her chin and she closed her eyes to savor her pleasure. Then, with a ragged exhalation, she leaned heavily forward until she was looming over his supine form, her hands sliding over his chest for better balance. He could feel himself rub and stroke right against the supple flesh of her innermost core, A caress from the inside out.

Wet, lewd sounds filled the heavy air between them. The leathery couch let out creaks and winced, protesting at having new salacious memories etched into its surface so passionately. Their breath was ragged and strained by the effort. He had to grit his jaw tightly shut to bear with his flaring pleasure. His perception of time and space collapsed unto itself, overridden by something more rough and instinctual, robbed by the delightful feeling of her narrow warmth. Her silhouette filled his entire field of vision. She was looming over him as if sheltering him in a cocoon made of her body and the leathery, creaking couch. She became the axis of his entire universe, the origin of what set his senses and nerves alight.

"I love... Gn-love the-Mh... I love..." he stammered in a hoarse breath, struggling to keep his focus on her. His brow creased into a heavy frown and his mouth twisted into a strained grin. He felt as if a pit of sparkling numbness yawned in his belly, a telltale sign that he would soon be overcome by raw pleasure...

"I know that face."

She let out a hushed but mirthful giggle before laying herself flat on him, her hands shifting over his chest to come to rest over his clavicles. Then, she gently pushed her hips down to pin him in place, craning her head slightly downward to look at him in the eyes. Confined in her warm embrace, he tensed up and groaned at his rut being harshly denied, but the agonizing lull at least gave him a vital and welcome respite. He had wished to savor herself a little more, despite the gnawing frustration that clawed through his heart. A moment to calm down, let his ablaze nerves cool off slightly. He inhaled deeply, appeasing his harried panting, breathing in a sultry and warm air that smelled like sweat and sex.

"Say it again?" she whispered, leaning in to lay her flat lips against his cheek.

"I love... I... Ah."

He huffed and puffed, hugging her slender waist tightly against him. He was still halfway embedded in her, simmering in the lush haven of her sex. From their intimate link, a bead of liquid warmth trickled along his length and testes. Her sweltering heat soaked through his very core. Then, slowly, carefully she imprinted a minute and delicate motion to her hips, rocking herself ever so faintly to quell his frustration and sparkle back his arousal. She was so sinfully _slow_ , and _sleek_ , and _snug_...

"I love you." he confessed, closing his eyes to better relish her.

She hummed and brushed her lips across his temple, inadvertently pushing her wide mandible in an awkward angle against his brow. Her hot breath fell on his ear, soothing him with its low pitch and rhythm. The ridges and coarse texture of her armored chest harshly rasped his skin, but his mind was entirely focused on the sound of her flanged alien voice, seeping through his mind in a tickling whisper.

"Say it again." she demanded.

"I love you." he repeated, a little louder this time, a large smile widening on his face.

She lightly took his ear between her edged lips to give it a gentle and playful nibble. Her hands crawled along, from his shoulder to his neck, before gently cupping the side of his jaw in her palms. Then, with a gentle nudge, she nuzzled herself against his face, pushing her flat nose against his, hanging over him mere inches away and letting her every exhalation blow against his lips. He held his mouth half agape, ready for a kiss, growing intoxicated by each shared breath. She kept his head slightly angled towards her, until he finally opened his eyes to meet hers. Transfixed, he could only look back at her, to the tiny speck of light that glimmered in her gaze.

Deep emerald eyes, split by vertical black pupils.

She was looking at him. Looking through him. Setting his heart ablaze.

Her alien eyes never looked so beautiful.

"... Again." she begged in a murmur.

"I love you." he answered back.

She brought her lips to bear on his own. A simple, gentle and shallow kiss that put time to a standstill. He felt the flat, bark-like texture of her mouth press on ever so slightly, and through hitched breath he could only purse his lips to answer back. Her mandibles clicked, breaking the dizzying silence.

"I love you too." she sighed, her words spearing right through him.

She laid her bare lips against his own again, pinching the plump flesh between the flat curve edge of her mouth. Never had he felt such a profound, such an intimate feeling. Never had he felt so powerless yet so almighty at the same time. She roused in him a sovereign feeling, a sentiment that nothing in the whole universe could stop the pure joy in his heart. Her kiss became deeper and hungrier. She darted the tip of her tongue in, brushing over him, coaxing him to meet the nimble muscle that caressed his lips. He loosened his jaw and stuck his tongue out, smooching it against hers, letting her have full reign over him. She giggled in his mouth and leaned in, sneaking part of her tongue inside his mouth, slinking and coiling around him, drawing unpredictable and wild patterns as she gently brushed her thumb across his cheeks. Her eager greed was exhilarating, and an instinctual spark deep in his gut commanded him to quell the carnal hunger inside him.

His hands brushed against her sinuous waist, travelling ever downward. The palm of his hand passed over the hard ridge of her hip bone, sliding their way towards her delightful rear. Once there, his caresses became as eager and hungry as her kiss. He kneaded and stroked at the taut flesh of her firm behind, letting his mind be filled with the sublime feeling of her pliable flesh. He could feel her strong muscles working underneath her leathery skin, goading him to squeeze and shape on her shapely form. She let out a frisky sigh, answering his loving touch by sinking a few inches deeper on his raging manhood. He let out a loutish chuckle in turn, turning his avid fondling into a series of playful pats and lazy spanks on her tough behind. The muffled sound of his palm slapping slackly against her flesh brought a dumb grin to his face, to such an extent that they both had to break their kiss, him to chortle heartily and her to bite back a snickering giggle.

A strange, random thought dawned on him, detonating inside his lust-addled mind with such clarity that it felt like an existential illumination.

 _How lucky of a man was he to deserve such a beautiful girl? Despite her otherworldly nature she wasn't much different from him. She was... "her". A gentle, cute lover. Her weight felt so comforting on him. Like a loving, living shelter._

 _It felt like a taste of immortality._

"...Numbskull monkey." she mumbled with an affectionate tone.

"What?"

"Nothing." she dodged, slightly pushing her behind against the palm of his hand. "Keep going, it's- hm."

"It's...?" he grinned.

She leaned back, pushing on her shoulder to get some distance with his face. Her mandible clicked against her jaw and she gave him an accusatory stare, but he knew that she was simply feigning vexation.

"It's _fun_." she relented, almost grudgingly.

"Oh. Lucky me then." he teased.

She let out a low huff and dipped down towards him, silencing him again with a playful kiss. His hands kept drawing wide figures on her skin, stroking her taut flanks and firm thighs in long sweeping motions. Cuddling tightly against one another, he exchanged a languid caress for her every kiss. Her hips began to move on him in a gentle and shallow rhythm, letting him shiver with the delight of feeling himself slide in her snug warmth. Soon, frisky giggling began to mix with heavier sighs. Her thighs squeezed down around his hips as she seesawed against him with more and more amplitude, with more and more vigor. His jaw was slack and loose, her heavy breathing cascading straight to his lungs. Inches away from each other's face, they were barely kissing anymore. Her mandibles clicked noisily against her jaw, and her flat mouth brushed against his cheek as she hugged him tight.

His toes curled in response to his mounting pleasure, but he could feel a numbing stiffness beset his legs and arms. A gnawing, needling frustration at his own passivity bore its way to his addled mind. He let out a gruff groan, overwhelmed by the desire to sate his agonizing thirst, and stirred uneasily on the sticky leathery cushions. She was pushing his length deeper and harder inside her, creating a new set of lewd notes out of her sex. A peculiar twist of her hips made her innermost flesh constrict suddenly around him, bringing a decisively unmanly moan out of his throat, bringing with it the last remnant of his self-restraint. His gut yearned for the thrust, his heart called for the rut...

"Argh! Wait a... Let me-!" he groaned, squirming under her, searching for a way to free his movement and inadvertently pinching the taut skin of her behind quite harshly between his tensed palms.

"Ah!? W-what are you-" she yelped, pushing on her arms and lifting most of her weight from him to escape his biting grope. Seeing the lucky opportunity, he hooked his right arm around the turian's waist, holding her slender body securely against him, and bended his other arm behind him to scoot over and lever his own body upward. As he began to rise his shoulders and straighten into a sitting position, an impromptu bounce of his rear against the creaking couch made him suddenly thrust inside her, eliciting a surprised yet saccharine cry out of his alien lover. She crossed her arms around his nape, clutching her hand on a short tuft of his hair, hanging on dearly as he made her whole body swing backward.

"H-hah...? Ahah!" she giggled softly, nuzzling her mandible against his temple. "A-ah...!?"

He groaned and hugged her close to keep her from falling over, reeling her back towards him as she stretched her legs around and behind him. After a few seconds of tricky adjustments, he shuffled himself into a steady sitting position, one leg crossed in front of him to let his turian lover rest her rear on his thigh and his other foot firmly planted on the ground for balance. At the same time, she released her grasp around him and relaxed in his arms, gently wiggling her hips to better nestle against his lap and insure her own balance. This new posture made for a very intimate embrace, full of warmth and tenderness. Shambling around had him been driven deeply inside her, and it dawned on him how her sodden sex felt soft, snug and delightfully sultry around him. Once set, she let out a long sigh and reared her chest back, leaning her hand on his thigh for support. She was bearing a heavy frown, but the way her mandibles fidgeted slightly ajar and the keen glint in her eyes gave her an expression of surly affection. He let out a gruff chortle, amused by her mock vexation, and trailed his fingers downward, following the gentle vale of her spine. When his quick caress curved along the delightful hump of her firm rear, his grin widened, and her mandibles fluttered renewed. Then, he gently thrusted his hips upward while simultaneously pulling her backside towards him.

"...Ah? Mm-ah. That's... _lovely_." she quietly muttered.

"Innit...?"

"Ah. Mhm hm.."

Interlocked into one another in this comfy embrace, they could finally answer each other's tender assaults on an even field. Selfish carnal instincts made him pull her rump towards him with each shallow thrust of his hips, but his turian lover also imprinted her own strength to her motion. What resulted was a slightly chaotic yet very enthusiastic rhythm of jagged thrusts and sudden grinds. Washed away by the wave of white fire pooling in his abdomen, what was left of his reason melted into a frantic lust: a hungry, greedy carnal desire, for her, for more of her, for more of this pleasure that was spreading through every fiber of his body...

She had fixed her gaze on him all along, and would not avert her eyes, as if an invisible anchor linked their stare into one another. Her expression had become passionate, her green eyes two shining embers that bore straight through him. Her way of breathing was mirroring his own : low, weary and raspy... Yet, despite her heavy and husky grunts, she sometimes let out adorable, shaky whimper that mixed in her quieter sighs. What little reason still had a hold on his kindled spirit began to fixate on her voice, yearning to hear the full, unrestrained harmony of her pleasured moans. Stirred by her sight, by her voice, he bucked his hips a little harder, a little wilder, idly kneading the taut flesh of her rump in his hand to guide her even deeper against him.

"Damn... You're so-... So-rhg..." he tried to formulate in between grunts.

"Arh?... H-hrh... Ahm! Rrha..." She cocked her head to the side, looking rather affected as well.

"Humph! Huh-hrg... Hrh..."

"Mh-mha?..." she slowed down her motions, giving him a long expectant glance, quite eager to hear what he tried so desperately to mumble to her.

He heaved like a bull, sliding his hand over her hipbone to press her, to keep her moving so delightfully on him.

"Rgh. You're so... damn-rmh... **cute**!" he finally roared, instinctively thrusting upward as to punctuate his joyful praise.

He pushed inside her pliable flesh with naked ease, embedding his sex in full in a cocoon made of warmth and pleasure. She looked at him with quivering mandibles and drunk-like eyes, and then she grabbed his biceps and hooked her hand around the back of his head to pull him right against her body. The jagged ridges of her armored torso pushed against his chest, their coarse and rough texture scraped hard against his skin. Yet, he could feel the softer skin of her warm lower belly pushing against his. Fully sunk on his length, she bobbed her hips to-and-fro, grinding, stirring him in her delightful depth. She pulled his head further against her, gently scratching him behind one ear and blowing hot breath against the other. Overwhelmed by this incredible intimacy, he crossed his arms around her slender waist, holding her so close against his body that he could feel his sweaty skin sticking to her form. A part of hooked bone jutting out from her wide bowl-like collar dug hard in his jaw and neck, but locked as he was against her, _within her_ , he could only close his eyes and let the fierce tide of her hips rock him to intense bliss. He breathed in deeply, his nose flattened against her taut neck, filling his lungs with her warm, raw scent. The bittersweetness of her sweat, the offset tinge of metal from her bones and the mat earthy smell of her tan skin whirled together through his mind. The heady powerful musk of sex and warm skin made his head swim. She was a storm whose husky, quiet moans thundered through his entire body. She smelled and sounded like life...

Like love.

He was barely able to focus on thrusting anymore, yet all his focus was pinpointed on the way she danced her hips against him. To keep him locked in her enveloping embrace, she was gyrating widely and rubbing profoundly against him. It was a mad, carnal dance that could only leave him panting and grunting against her, overpowered by that feeling of melting against her skin, and inside her warmth. Stirred over and over inside her innermost, clinging flesh, he gradually lost his capacity to reason further. He let out a grave, shaky groan through gritted teeth, his hands instinctively tensing around her waist and rear. For a fleeting, vertiginous moment, he felt no longer human, and she no longer felt like his alien lover from another planet. Careening passionately down the pass to carnal oblivion, they had seemingly become one single entity, one rhythm, one momentum, one breath...

One body.

"...I love you." she hummed to his ear, making her voice rumble through his entire being.

"I love you!" he repeated, louder, almost by reflex. "I love you... **so much.** "

She affectionately carded her fingers through his short hair, taking the edge of his ear in the corner of her sharp mouth to nibble on it.

"...So nice. It's like..." he mumbled, as if in a daze, "I want to feel this... forever. Like, ah- I don't want it to end."

"Amh... Me too." she answered, releasing his ear to better nuzzle and push her cheek against his temple. She allowed herself to sink completely inside his lap, unto his sex. Then, she nudged his head out of her wide hollow collar and leaned her shoulders away from him to straightened herself, towering slightly over him. Her hands released his arm and shoulders to rest on his thighs, her thighs squeezing tightly around his waist as his own fingers fell on her hips. She heaved her body up and quickly let it fall back down, eliciting an obscene wet squish out of her sex for every bounce she made against his lap. Each ingress inside her drenched warmth came faster and harder than the one before, and in her unfocused eyes still shone a fierce and lively glint. Rendered speechless, transfixed by the way she was now fearsomely riding him, he could only marvel at his alien lover and let himself be swept up by the unbreakable tide of her hips. She overwhelmed him completely, her renewed strength rendering him as clay under her relentless rhythm.

"Arh! Mhah! Hmrah!" she grunted, a fierce and hungry look in her eyes.

"That's... Rhm. Insane." he breathed out, fingers curling around her hip bone.

Her brow plated twitched into a nervous frown, her mandibles quivered loose around her jaw and her flanged voice broke down in a mellow cry, one that speared right through his heart to bring a blazing white omen.

He would not last any longer.

The way she looked at him, the way she was taking him...

The lewd wet sound that followed her snug warmth...

He knew that hearing her sweeter moans would be his undoing, and all his muscles tensed up in anticipation of blissful release.

He would soon burst off the edge of his pleasure.

He craned his neck backward to look at her, gathering what little reason and strength he had to formulate a husky, desperate warning.

"I-... Wait! It feels so- rngh... You're going to make me-"

Suddenly she lunged forward, catching him by surprise, to hook her arms around his shoulders. She gently nuzzled against his forehead and let herself fall in his lap, motionless and panting, burying his throbbing sex inside hers.

"I know." she softly said between husky breaths, cradling and scratching at the back of his neck, "I know you. I know your face. Let me..."

With a muffled groan, she heaved herself off him to sit inches away from him. He shivered and gritted his teeth at the sudden absence of her comfortable, silky warmth. The intense frustration at being denied her wet snugness bubbling through his spine. However, his anguished sound found respite when the palm of her hand closed down around his length.

"Alright. There..." she murmured, tightening her fingers in a firm grip before tugging on him upward. "Hah... Hm. Relax now..."

She brought her hand to bear on his hardened flesh in a firm and vigorous grip. Her motions were swift and strong, drawing on him at a steady and slick rhythm. As her palm ran with maddening ease along his soaked sex, he could only grit his teeth and wince at the rumbling, intense pleasure that pooled in his guts. An odd sense of familiarity needled its way through his mind, a strange feeling of distant memories blending in together, brought back by the peculiar way she was handling, or rather manhandling him.

It was a strange remnant of misplaced fear that led to this habit, but she did always move to masturbate him to completion at the end of their embraces.

"W-what about- Rrrrng. What 'bout you?" he cringed, gathering all that was left of his willpower to not falter here and there.

"No, shhh... Don't worry about me." she hushed, unshakable in her strength, "It's about _you_ now... I already had my fair share of... you."

"I-... I-..."

"It's alright... Focus." she whispered, silencing him with a firmer tug.

His fingers curled around the ridges of her jagged backbone, clinging desperately to her as his limbs felt heavier by each passing second, seemingly hardening into stone as pleasure sizzled through his every nerve. He felt drawn to dip his head down and stare at her raucous handiwork, so that he could brand in his memory a fiery vision for this wracking pleasure.

Her firm hand was and felt like a blur over his sex, sliding up and down his sleek length with insolent ease. His bush of bristle hair was now a disheveled heap of clumped, sodden tendrils. Wet beads of sweat rolled down from her thigh and from his own belly. His eyes caught a glimpse of her inconspicuous sex, still shimmering in a tempting, smooth sheen of sweat and their mixed fluids...

His head rang with the dull thumping of his own heart.

As if it could burst out of his throat at any moment.

Yet, he clamped his jaw shut to swallow back a roar.

If he could only savor this moment a few seconds more...

She let out a strained sigh and idly pinched at his nape, calling him back from his lustful reverie. He leveled his head with hers, and with a gentle pull she brought him closer, until her plated brow pressed against his forehead. Her mask-like face encompassed his entire field of vision, and suddenly she was the only thing to exist in the galaxy. Her mandibles, clenched tightly against her jaw, wiggled slightly ajar. The slit over her flat nose flared wide as she let out a profound exhalation, and her eyes half-shut in a wrinkled squint.

"Relax. Don't restrain yourself..." she cooed, her kind tone contrasting with her fierce hold on his most sensitive flesh. "... I'm ready for you."

He couldn't focus anymore as his mind felt on the verge of collapsing. The spring that was coiling inside his gut screamed for release. He breathed in deep, filling his lungs with her hot breath, letting the stuffy air they shared in this utmost intimate embrace overwhelm him. He was a stringless puppet of hard clay and fiery nerves, held on by the thread of her earthy perfume.

Smell of sweat. Smell of sex. The warmth of her hand. The depth of her green eyes. The red of her markings. For the space of a few seconds, she had become his everything. She was holding him captive in the palm of her hand.

A last plea formed in his shattering psyche.

 _Kiss me_ , he tried to beg, but the words died in his throat and came out as hitched breath. He tried to pull her head toward his lips, but he could not find the strength to release his fingers from her collarbone. Yet, in his last moment of lucidity, he noticed his lover closing her eyes and slightly tilting her head. The nuzzling on his forehead replaced by a ever so gentle pressure on his lips...

He held his breath, finally allowing himself to savor her pure sweetness.

Perfect raw bliss.

How strange that her breath still smelled of cheap grape flavored soda.

"Hrnsk!"

His inner self combusted into a numb flame as he climaxed in the palm of her hand. He dug his nails against her bones, felt the stiffness of his muscles suddenly disintegrate, and bucked his hips helplessly off the sticky couch. He let out a long, gruelling groan through gritted teeth, then a soulful moan that she caught on her prying tongue. Her fingers tightened around his length in a delightful, fierce narrowness. He couldn't do anything but lurch his hips against her hand in desperation, letting his pent-up pleasure burst out of his throbbing sex. As a pleasant warmth seeped through his weary limbs, he felt drops of igneous gooey fluid fall and roll on his thighs...

When the gnawing lust that washed his being in trails of white fire finally dissolved into a warmth of serene pleasure, he could still feel her hand milking over his spent flesh, sending tremors of overwhelming pleasure through his entire being.

"Rngh! Wait! Stop!" he yelped suddenly, careening his slack hand from her waist to her arm to reach and stop her overstimulating caress. Any more of her touch, however gentle, threatened to wreck him whole.

She finally let go of him with a content purr, gently scratching and stroking the back of his neck as he tried get his breath back. His lips felt strangely dry, and a peculiar sensation of pleasant numbness had begun spreading from his abdomen. Heaving and still shivering and reeling from his delightful apex, he let out a long and whistling sigh, and then raucous laughter.

He laughed on and on in her embrace, a hearty and boisterous chuckle, carried on by a blooming sense of intoxication that fluttered through his brain. Then, with a final, exhausted snort, he let himself fall backward on the couch like a felled tree.

His back bounced slightly on the synthetic faux-leather and his sweaty skin already felt like sticking to the fabric. Yet there was probably no happier man in the whole galaxy at this precise moment. His mouth curved into a large smile as he laid there, still hearing the heavy drum of his heart, basking in gentle afterglow.

"Oh man... That was insane." he mumbled, rubbing the palm of his hand against his eyes to shake off a skulking lethargy, "That was... Something deadly for sure. You are really someone... Someone incredible..."

He swiped away his heavy lids and craned his head up to take a look at his turian lover. She was still resting a few inches from his lap, halfway sitting between his splayed legs. She was leaning slightly backward, breathing calmly as she peered intently at something on her hand. Her mandible twitched and she let out a frisky hum, she held her hand high in the light, twisting her wrist to and fro to better study what glistened over her skin.

A spark of warmth kindled through his heart at her rousing sight. Between her long fingers stretched sleek strands of white gooey fluid. She hummed contently, a spark of fierce pride in her eyes, before turning her hand over to watch as vicious beads of his seed rolled lazily down from her palm and talons.

To see his proud alien lover, the woman he came to realize he loved so dearly, play with such natural ease with the liquid proof of his lust for her made for an haunting vision.

Sinfully lewd yet strangely tender in its own way.

Adding to this lascivious vision, he noticed the few white streaks that marbled over her slender waist, blending in with the sheen of sweat that covered her tan skin. Trickling down from her body, along the subtle lines of her abdominal muscles, this gooey white mess made for a maddening testimony of their lovemaking. A strange and crude brand for such an intimate moment in time.

She nonchalantly swiped her hand against her thigh, and then turned her head towards him, cocking her head on the side, to gave him a sly look.

"Quite a mess you made." she said, squinting her eyes in a kittenish expression. "... Not that I mind. It's almost flattering, in a way."

"That was quite something, alright."

"Oh?"

"You're real pretty... And incredible. Pretty incredible, and you know..."

He knew he sounded like a boor buffoon, but he wanted to tell her how much he loved her in this instant. He threw his head back and stared at the steel ceiling, gathering what little focus he still had left. He heaved loudly and cleared his throat. Then, he vigorously rubbed his hazy eyes some more to fight off the lethargy that was creeping through his body.

"I think I've completely fallen for you." he confessed, smiling to the stars.

Her long leg swooshed over his face and he felt her pivot on her seat. Then, she carefully laid her body to his side in a graceful display of turian flexibility. Her slick belly pushed against his flank, gluing their skin together in a sticky warmth. He instinctively hooked his arm between her head and wide bony collar to cushion her. She leveled her face close to him and locked her eyes with his, her expression was soft and affectionate. Deep green eyes, contrasting with a crimson streak of warpaint. Her warm breath cascaded on his neck with a relaxing familiarity, and her presence felt so comforting.

"I love you." she whispered, her low voice tinged with tenderness.

"I love you too." he answered before laying a soft kiss on her plated brow.

Her mandibles yawned slightly open, and her sharp mouth curved into a smile that lit up her eyes. He closed his eyes and relaxed in her embrace, letting the echo of her smile lull him to a blissful oblivion.

She nuzzled her flat cheek against his forearm and intertwined her slender leg with his own, locking his body in her embrace. He let out a long, happy sigh and hugged her a little more closely, a little more fondly. Despite the chaffing bark-like texture of her armored chest, feeling her slender form against him was absolute bliss. In his addled, exhausted mind, she had became a living goddess whose tender embrace could heal any wounds, could lift any sorrow.

He had found in her an elixir of life.

He basked in this warm afterglow, cuddling with his turian lover in serene quietness. Her fingers carded lightly across his chest, while he gently kneaded and caressed at her shoulder.

"We're all sticky and sweaty." she sighed.

"...So?"

"We're bound for a shower, together." she said, almost regretfully.

"Probably."

She didn't move, and neither did he. Both of them sharing a silent agreement to keep cuddling like this for few minutes more, both of them unwilling to put a stop to this tender moment. She flattened the palm of her hand over his sternum and laid still against him.

"I'll never tire of this." she mumbled to his ear.

"Tire of...what?"

"Being able to feel your heart beating."

He smiled to himself, stirred profoundly by her moving words.

And to think that he was about to make the mistake of leaving her behind.

Truly, he felt like the luckiest man in the whole galaxy to have found such a beautiful creature… No, to have found **her** to fall in love with...


	4. Part IV : Drain

**Part IV - Drain**

The piercing light shone through his eyelid, sparking him back to consciousness. He let out a grumbling hum and stretched his jaw in a wide yawn, slowly awakening from the hazy, cushy mist of slumber. A low, droning whirr. Pleasant to the ear. He recognized the lull of passing hovercars, of a busy Ward lane. Then, he felt cold. And sweaty. Something heavy and warm, sharp and pointy in quite a few places, corrugating over his side. His arm felt deadened, a sea of tiny prickles and tingles cascading along his muscles, from shoulder to wrist.

Her.

He recognized the ridged surface of her body pushing against his and could not help himself but smile wildly. The weight of her head, nestled over the hollow of his shoulder, felt dreamy and comforting. The shape of her mandible was sharply imprinted in his skin, but he did not mind the prickly sensation. He listened carefully, focusing on the quiet, slow rhythm of her breathing. Was she still asleep? He flexed his fingers to dispel the deadened prickles and his hand flattened over the taut, fit skin of her waist. He dared not move his arm yet out of fear of waking her.

A strange thought sprung to his awakened mind. About how he could feel her bones against his skin, how even through his eyes were closed he could draw the map of her undulating armored body from memory and touch alone. It felt all the more familiar to him, bringing back times to his mind where they would sleep through the day together, bodies intertwined just like they are now.

He loved those bones of hers.

It felt like waking up to peace made flesh.

A faint, bittersweet smell of sweat, warm skin and sex hung in the air, bringing back to his addled mind bubbles of pleasant memories of what transpired with her moments... Or hours ago? How long did he doze off? Something slowly brushed over his chest before gently pushing against him. Three long digits splayed across his chest, resting over his heart. Suddenly aware of the soft, warm breath that blew against his neck, he carefully turned his head and glanced to his side.

There she was, he quietly thought to himself, smiling instinctively at her sight. Her face looked as stoic as ever, but there was a relaxed look to her. As her mandibles rested lax and loose over her jawbone, the white gleam of her sharp fangs peered through the opening of her wide maw. Her breathing came in a slow and whistling rhythm because of it, even as the ridges of her flat nose opened and closed in rhythm.

However, what struck him the most about her sleeping -or more fitting, struggling to fall asleep- form was the way her eyelids fluttered over her dozy, unresponsive eyes. Each time her green pupils disappeared under her lids, she would make a slight sight and pry her eyes open, yet her eyelids would fall again. She didn't even seem to notice he was awake, stuck as she was in a cruel struggle against the weight of her own eyes.

It was a rare, precious sight to see his lover in such a vulnerable, eye-catching moment. For a moment, he wondered if it would not be better not to move and watch her lose in the battle against sleep she was clearly losing. Yet his own naked body felt cold and sticky, and her leathery couch was not the most comfortable place for both of them to spend the night. With a ping of regret at breaking her drowsiness, he began to gently shake his shoulders under her head. When that didn't cut it, he moved his free hand to gently cup her neck and thumb through her cheek-plate.

She let out a faint hum and shut her mouth, her eyelids were resting and would not flutter back open. With a smirk, he shuffled on the couch, twisting his shoulder in an uncomfortable angle, but leveling his mouth with her own. He laid a gentle, shallow kiss on her flat, pumice-like lips. A familiar warmth and tender sense of comfort followed this intimate greeting, and soon enough, he could feel a lively eagerness sparking back in his lover. He closed his eyes to better concentrate on the queer feeling of her half-asleep, half-awake breath. A slight change of angle and firmer touch let him gently pry her sharp mouth open. She let out a long, soft whimper as she embraced him. She slowly crossed her taloned hand upward over his chest, before gently grasping at the back of his neck to pull him a little closer, tightly against her. He drank her heavy, dry breath, and was spurred by a growing desire to deepen this kiss. The tip of his tongue fell upon her lips before being met with her own in a shy and tender caress. She held him still as a nimble warmth lazily rolled sometimes under his tongue, sometimes against his lips.

But then, she suddenly retreated and shattered their kiss by pulling her head backward. Left gawking goofily with his tongue half stuck-out, he opened his eyes only to be greeted by the sight of her maw open wide and tall. For a second, an ancestral and primal part of his psyche lit up in fear of the sight of dagger-like fangs pointed straight at him. She froze in this strange position, mandibles held far apart, eyes welded shut. Then, with a long shiver that made her mandibles flutter, she let out a long drawn-out, indolent whine...

Yawning.

He caught her _yawning_.

Yawning without a care in the world, right in front of his face. Yawning wide enough for him to see the strange architecture of her inner mandible muscles and shimmering palate.

For a brief moment, he thought that catching a turian yawning should be on the same lucky happenstance as catching the sight of a glittering C-beam.

Then he yawned in turn, half as wide but twice as noisily, caught by the contagious nature of the sight and sound. After a vain attempt in fighting back the boor reflex, he let his yawn prolong into a body-shivering roar. Through one half-opened eye, he watched as his lover stretched and flexed her long spindly arms in the air, mandibles fluttering in a dull chatter against her jaw. Then, as he snapped his jaw back shut, he felt her hand fall gently across his face. Her green eyes looked back at him through a slightly groggy expression. He blinked hard, trying to shake off his own woozyness, and felt her thumb roll slowly over his cheek to wipe away at his teary lid.

"Hello." she simply said, mouth curving into a slight smile.

"Hello." he mirrored with a gravelly voice.

He moved his hand to grasp her own, squeezing her long fingers over his face. As their gazes locked in one another, they stayed a moment still and tranquil, giving time for minds and senses to awaken anew. Absentmindedly, his eyes wandered from her thin vertical black pupils, over the flexible bone plates of her brow, to the way the ridges over her flat nose opened and closed with the slow rhythm of her breathing.

Funny how her otherworldly alien attributes only added to her charm.

An exotic, alien body that harbored a sensitive and caring mind.

Different yet relatable.

And he loved her entire being for it.

"I almost fell asleep..." she murmured, trailing on the last word until it morphed into a cute small yawn, "... waiting for you to wake up."

He let out a chuckle, amused by her proud front and her groggy eyes. He tried to turn his shoulders to embrace her, but his back suddenly felt like it was tearing apart. His bare skin, glued to the leathered couch through sweat and pressure, made quite the striking and painful sound. He let out a yelp at first, then a boisterous laugh. Prickled wide awake, he squirmed clumsily on his elbow to unwrap himself out of the couch's sticky grasp.

"Remember that part about going for a shower?" he mumbled, twisting and turning his body out of the couch's sticky grasp. Now in a sitting position, elbow on his knees, feet on the steely ground, he heaved loudly and tried to not focus on the prickly sensation all along his back. He turned his head toward his turian lover and smiled at her. "Feels like now would be the best time to hop in it, innit?"

"Mmm..."

Beside him, the svelte alien began to stretch widely, arms held up high in the air as she let out a strained hum. Her mandibles fluttered against her jaw in a dull clickety rhythm. Then, after relaxing her entire body into limp beatitude, she brought her knees close to her belly and with a little push rolled herself into a sitting position behind him.

"What time is it anyway?" he wondered aloud, looking through the window at the ever busy Ward, still full of bright neon lights and busy antigrav traffic. Living on a space station often meant being unable to keep track of time. Out there in deep space, with no dawn nor dusk, no sun or moon to keep an eye on would mean that time would feel eerily... _halted_.

An uneasy feeling wormed its way through him. A form of unbalance or disorientation at not being aligned on the all-mighty galactic clock anymore. He had a slight frustrated smile and scratched his beard and neck absentmindedly before leaning forward, reaching for the scattered clothes on the ground. "Like... What time is it _really_?" he mumbled, feeling some clothes in search of his holo-tab.

"Who cares?" she gently said behind him, carefully sliding her arms around his side to embrace him. "Who cares about the time?" she followed in a whisper. Her tone was mellow and nonchalant, in contrast to her usual sternness. She gave a gentle pull of her crossed arms over his belly and he let himself be brought against her body. Then, she shuffled behind him until he could feel the ridge of her thoracic ridge mold snugly against his spine. She leaned her head against the side of his own and he could guess the shape of her mandible pressing against his nape. "It's better this way... Not knowing." Her voice came in an enthralling whisper, somehow louder than the diffuse brouhaha from the Ward below.

He let out a gruff hum in response and, without really thinking about it, leaned against her a little more. Her arms closed a little tighter around his side, her embrace feeling a little more snug, a little more warmer.

"Feels like back then, don't you think? We would wake up looking like a mess and laze around all day, without a care for anything. It was just you, and me... Together here." she followed, her exotic, breathy voice transfixing him like a siren's song. She lowered her chin and to lay a flat kiss against his shoulder. "It's one of my favorite memories, this feeling of oblivion... shared with you. So why not forget about everything for a while, you and I?"

A rhetorical question. He let out another, weaker hum, surrendering himself to the thrall of her voice and sheltering embrace. A dizzying high born out of her flanged tone took him over. He began to crave her next whisper.

"Let them forget about us, too. We'll be... out of time. Out of sight. Let's welcome our little reprieve. It'll be just you, and me..."

A pause. Her long arms squeezed around him and he dared not move a muscle. She brought her mouth so close to his ear that he could hear the percussive click of her tongue desynchronizing with her translated voice.

"I've given to you before, and I'll do so again now. My home. My shelter. My shower... My bed."

A wave of goosebumps ran across his body and a shiver rolled down his spine. Her every word was now coated in lascivious, honeyed intent. One of her hands moved low, over his lower abdomen, and ever downward.

"My body. Your body."

Her long fingers ruffled through damp, coarse hair. The tip of her talon brushed against his sex, already responding positively to her hearty and pleasurable voice.

"Just my body... And yours."

First, he felt her hand closing carefully around his half-hardening member before she gave him a gentle, almost lax squeeze. Then, he felt her slick tongue brushing against his earlobe. She ran her tongue slowly upward, along his auricle, before surprising him by taking it in her mouth.

With but a mere suckling nibble, he was sundered. She let out a strange, husky giggle as she gently tugged on his ear, and it simply made him melt on the spot. He grit his teeth, surprised by the unique and unprecedented sensation, and could only feel himself grow harder in the palm of her hand. She released his ear and gave it a final lick before leaning her head slightly away to blow hot air against his eardrum. The pressure around his half-hardening sex grew suddenly, and a sudden, aggressive jerking move that caught him by surprise. Her aggressiveness was slightly overwhelming. She let out a small chuckle, then darted again to give him a sharper nip at his auricle. A ping of pain jolted through his skin and he let out a piping yelp, squirming between her arms and swinging his head away from her sharp lips.

"Ow! Not so harsh now!" he yelled, twisting his neck in an attempt to face her.

Their eyes crossed path. She was looking at him with a strange, slightly sly expression, as if he was some kind of primitive lifeform that got suddenly grumpy at her playful roughhousing. A mixture of bemusement, levity and slight concern. Her mandibles yawned wide ajar in distinctive turian fashion. He frowned and rubbed his ear between his fingers, but he couldn't repress the smile spread over his face.

"Oh, uh. Hm. Did it hurt?" she asked, a bit coyly.

"Well, ye-... Huh." He swallowed hard, suddenly aware that yelping and squirming like a startled Asari in the arms of his alien lover, all because of some ear play was doing quite a number on his masculine pride. He cleared his throat, gathered what remained of his dignity and threw her a mean look before taking his serious voice. "It only hurt a little bit."

Strangely, the dour tone of his voice only served to highlight the sheepidness of his admission. Her mandibles clicked against her jaw and one of her long plated brows rose slightly.

"So it's true then."

"What's true?"

"That those funny, flabby bits of yours _are_ sensitive." she announced matter-of-factly, before the sharp line of her mouth curved into an impish smile. "I got you good."

"Got me good indeed." he relented, "Where did you learn that?"

She straightened her neck and took a know-it-all attitude. "On our good old Extranet Codexes. Council Races section, Humanity column. On their X _enobiology and quirks,_ they had a small trivia section about..."

A pause, a mandible click, and then earnestness in her voice "... about erogenous zones. Hm."

A curt, slightly sheepish answer that made him smile.

"Erogenous zones, huh?"

"And some recommended lectures about other things." she quickly added.

"Other things, huh?"

"I've learned that the _ear-thing_ works, at least." she said, punctuating her words with a very gentle squeeze around his half-softening member. A pause, and she threw a glance down yonder, letting the flat of her fingers trail slowly and tenderly over his flesh. "I did not overdo it, I hope?"

"You're impossible. We've just woken up and you're all over me." he teased, shuffling his back against her to find a good spot where her jagged silhouette wouldn't dig too much against him.

Her mandibles opened slightly ajar and she quietly hummed as an answer. For an instant, a flash of concern shone through her eyes and she hugged him a little more closer against her, prickling him inadvertently on the jutting bone of her large collar-like clavicle.

"I... Uh..."

"Hey now, no worries, love. All's good." he whispered, putting the palm of his hand over her bracing arm, "I forgot how lovey-dovey, kissy-huggy you can be when you awake. It's cute that a tall, tough, no-nonsense gal like you would rather have her fill of hugs, kisses and more before her morning coffee, innit?"

She lowered her head to avoid his gaze and her mandibles yawned slightly open again. Something she often did when he threw her a compliment that took her off-guard. She laid her mouth on his shoulder and hummed shyly, squeezed his body a bit against her, and closed her eyes to seemingly better enjoy their embrace. He smiled warmly as he watched her, tendrils of mushy remembrances kindled anew in his mind. He remembered her clinging body when he slept in her bed. The sight of her gentle smile as he opened his eyes at the start of a new day. Then, as he began to spend more and more time at her place instead of his own, how she would cuddle, tease, and play. It all culminated in a whole day spent amidst tangled sheets and sweat-soaked pillows...

He gulped hard, remembering what transpired that feverish day, spent almost entirely with their bodies intertwined with one another and in one another. Was it so long ago that she asked him to pull her out of her messy bed with a hug?

With time, trust and the development of their tryst, her stoic and alien posture would make way to a soft and hearty one. Then once out of her bed, she regained composure and her certain aloofness. As if putting her stoic turian theatre mask back on for the day.

A rocklike fortress that sheltered an exalted, sometimes vulnerable heart.

He wondered if all turians were as affectionate as her when they're not being the last pillar of hope in this crumbling galaxy.

A darkened thought crossed his mind. A crumbling galaxy. A burning galaxy. He frowned, unable to quell this mounting, sinister worry. Not knowing what time it is paled in comparison to not knowing if they'd make it together at the end of all things. If anything would happen to her... The sweetness of his memories began to sour.

This war was a black hole that captured all light.

He bit his lip and gathered all his focus back on her. Back on her silhouette. On her body. On the taste of her skin. On the depth of her eyes. On the warmth of her caresses. Anything to chase away the ghosts of uncertainty. He let out a nervous, almost sobbing laughter that attracted her attention.

He turned his head to face her. Deep green eyes with a feline-like pupil that scrutinized him with affective curiosity, looking to understand why he was laughing in such a way. His mouth distorted in a wide grin, and he let her visage become his beacon.

"Kiss me, you're beautiful." he let out, instinctively and strongly, almost like an exclamation.

The thin line of her mouth curved into a slight smile and she brought her mouth to him with natural flair. She closed her eyes and he mimicked her, readying his mind to focus on his every sense. He felt the flat, limestone-like texture of her lips smoosh against his. For a time, they simply held still together, locked in place by this delicate connection. Then, without realizing, he began to gently push against her, bumping his nose against her flat own. The exotic shape of her lips loosened lightly and her breath fell in him, hot and heavy. Sweetly intoxicated, he focused all his being into this sensual imprint : on the calming rhythm and subtle wail of her breath, on the little bead of her saliva that rolled down under his tongue, on the muted and wet clicks that accompanied their exchange.

He smiled to himself, letting himself drown in the comforting closeness to her.

A simple, plain and quiet kiss in a suspended moment. To share something sweet and uncomplicated with her, an alien girl from another planet, so distinct and yet so relatable. That was all needed to make him feel happy and dizzy.

Breathless in more ways than one, he pulled away from the pleasant kiss to breathe in. Drawn in the movement, she let out a small surprised sigh before catching herself. Squeezing her arms around him, she half-opened her eyes and mandibles, heaving quietly through her half-opened mouth as if she meant for the kiss to continue. Her look, at that precise moment, was an adorable snapshot of relaxed beatitude, one that disappeared just as quickly once she regained her focus and composure. Her mouth curved into a smile and she leaned her forehead forward, gently bumping into his own and bringing her eyes to his level. Lively, shining eyes of a deep green hue, of an exotic and alien architecture. Her face had taken over his entire field of view, enough for him to discern the subtle rise and fall of the strange slits that crossed her nose bridge. Her mandibles clicked, and she lightly twisted her head askew, rubbing her plated brow against his forehead. He sighed contently, happily basking in this intimate mood.

"Always so lovey-dovey... Always so... cute and spiky." he mumbled absentmindedly, almost to himself. However, as beautiful as she was at this very moment, the strain of twisting his neck to the side had become too present. He turned away and rolled his neck carefully side to side, stretching a few of his cervical bones in a dull pop. She grasped the top of his shoulders with her long arms and pushed her brow gently against the back of his head. He smiled and chuckled quietly at her curiously clingy attitude. It felt as if she was doing anything in her power to anchor him to her and the creaky leather couch. However, the comfortable prospect of laying there again with her was soured by the fact that he'd only wake up later in a renewed layered of sweat that would stick to the cushions even harder.

"C'mon now, lazy bum." he teased, "We've been stalling long enough."

She let out an indifferent groan before attempting to pull him back to her.

"Wasn't it your idea that we should probably share a shower sometime soon?"

"Hm mh... But then you fell asleep right here."

"So, uh... Wait, now that I'm awake, what's keeping us from going to-"

With a small display of strength, she attempted to playfully wrestle him backward, cutting him off with a yelp. He barely managed to catch his balance by tensing his abdominal muscles. He grabbed her arm and leaned forward, gathering his strength to rise on his legs and bring her with him off of the infernal couch, even if it meant carrying her on his back.

"Ah! I'm sliding!" she said aloud, squeezing her arms over him in search of purchase. He felt her weight roll on his back as she began to squirm and turn behind him. She let out a mirthful laugh, and the strange note of her flanged giggle went straight through his heart. Her joy brought a twang of wholesome warmth and _fun_ inside him. He huffed loudly but fell back on his rear, brought back down by a pull of his turian lover. She was as strong as he remembered her to be, but was even heavier than he expected. The abrasive texture of her ragged exoskeleton rubbed on his back, slightly nicking at his naked skin, yet there was a distinct sense of comfort at feeling her weight on his back. To feel her presence and hear her so full of life. Laughter and a variety of strained grunts mixed as a little game of back and forth ensued, where primitive human might went up against a variety of crafty turian tactics to keep him at bay. The roughhousing continued, her taloned feet batting and sliding on the ground as he tried to throw her off balance by raising and sometimes tickling at her exposed thighs. Then, finally, with a final surge of vigor that threatened to throw him directly over the low coffee table, he managed to rise and bring his alien lover in his tall wake.

He stumbled a bit, one of his feet comically lodged in a colorful wrap of synthetic cloth on the ground, but he was standing nonetheless. From touch alone, he could make out the outline of his svelte alien lover, still snuggly embracing him from behind. She gave him a last hugging squeeze before relaxing. Her arms loosened over his chest and she leaned her body away from him, lowering her own shoulders over his. Then, with a quiet snicker, she laid her chin right on top of his scalp, almost tauntingly. Not that he minded, he always enjoyed that height difference with her.

"You wild... idiot. You were ready to throw yourself over." she admonished in a tender, affectionate tone. "If I hadn't been there to rein you in..."

"That's how it always was, innit?" he answered in a wide smile, "You always had my back when I charged recklessly forward, always was the brain to my brawn."

"Brawn?" she scoffed, squeezing him against her, "Last I remember you always lost to me at the team's arm wrestling tournaments."

Jogged by her words, his mind reeled back the memory of those informal C-Sec competitions. Her dour face across him, brow so low over her severe eyes. Her mandibles clenching in furious focus, the slits over the bridge of her nose opening wide to take air. She always was so serious about this "game", while he took it in stride. He always lost against her, it's true, but partly because it was hard to laugh and flex at the same time.

He remembered her beaming, prideful look when she always emerged the winner. As if she reveled in her superiority over some primitive species. Still, maybe this was the reason he kept losing those arm wrestling matches.

At that time, he probably didn't realize it yet.

How much he liked her genuine, happy smiles.

He put his hands over her long arms that crossed over his chest, brushing over her taut skin in a gentle, wavy caress.

"Yeah, I admit it. You always was the better half. Stronger, smarter..."

"A better shot." she whispered.

"Probably the cuter half too, now that I think about it. Beautiful silhouette. Bountiful asset."

She snorted aloud and hugged him tightly against her in silence.

"You won, y'know?"

"Won?"

"Won me over. Fair and square."

"Hm."

A silent pause, and another squeeze.

"You know, for a while, even when I slept I kept dreaming about you."

"... Hm?"

"Sweet dreams they were. To go with a sweet lady."

"... What kind of dreams ?"

"Many. Some mundane. Some a bit lewd. Somewhere I just dreamt about going for ice cream with you. That one, that one is still my favorite of all."

"..."

She pushed her chin at the top of his head, then began to slightly rock to-and-fro, keeping him right there against her inside the cradle of her arms. The hard ridges of her thoracic plates prickled against his spine and shoulder blades, but he did not care. All he cared was surrendering himself in the feeling of her body against his, of this tender embrace. Closing his eyes, he let his mind wander backwards, to a happier time that felt like a lifetime ago.

In the whirlpool of sweet, distant memories that played in his mind, a few familiar faces flashed before him. Absent friends. Some disappeared. Others dead. He saw smiling faces of his turians, asari and salarian colleagues.

A chill crawled down his spine at the melancolic memory. Somewhere deep within is mind, a nagging feeling crept closer, getting more and more clearly defined. An aching, unforgivable _fear._ Deep and profound, like a distant summer storm.

Because as much as he remembered those faces, his friends were still dead or unreachable.

Gone.

It could always happen to him.

It could happen to _her._

He stretched his cheeks apart, grinning wildly as if he could ward off his worries from an insolent smile alone. Suddenly, a wave of panic rushed upward, crawling over his skin like a slithering ink. With a gentle but pressing jerk of his shoulder, he freeing himself from her embrace that suddenly felt somehow claustrophobic. He turned to her, his hands squeezing tightly around hers, and offered her his widest, toothiest smile yet.

"Let's not waste any time making new good dreams and memories then, eh?"

Her deep green eyes were round and wide, looking straight at him with a quizzical glint. For a moment, she appeared a bit confused by his reaction, but soon enough her mandibles relaxed along her jaw and she let out a sigh.

"It's a deal then." she said, cocking her head slightly on the side, "You and me... We're in it together, right ?"

"Absolutely." he answered eagerly with another grin, trying to supress the gut feeling that she was reading his sudden unease.

She marked a small pause, seemingly scrutinizing the depth of his eyes in search of something that seemed to bother her. Then, she craned her head high and let out a small despondent hum.

He frowned, his smile almost faltering from her aloof attitude.

"You stink of sweat." she admonished, matter-of-factly.

His frown deepened, and his smile widened in surprise.

"What?"

"I think it's the couch. Feels like we both smell like it and... Hm."

"Huh."

"Other things too."

"Hm."

They exchanged a long look, idly sniffing at each other. Then, as he realized that his skin did indeed smell like synthetic faux-leather that has been bathed in salt, he nodded at her.

"Let's go shower. Right?"

"Right." she nodded back, mandible tensed around her face.

She brushed around him and hopped forward, toward the far wall where the stairs to the second floor rose. He watched her stride away with a chuckle, and then crouched down on one knee to gather his haphazardly discarded clothes. While he wasn't shy of walking around naked around his turian lover, the slight draught that was blowing through her flat felt quite chilling. Plus, it was only polite to put on something that would hide his modesty.

"What are you doing?" she called out to him, incredulous.

He grabbed a buckle and tugged at the snarled up pile of clothes on the ground. "I'm looking for my pants." he plainly answered.

She stopped in the middle of the steps and looked his way.

"You're looking for your pants?"

"Yeah."

She leaned against the wall, cocking her head on the side as he unfurled what seems to be some kind of black stretchy synthetic fabric.

"Those are mine." she quipped with a discreet chuckle.

"Oh."

He pulled at the tight elastic fabric a little more, oddly fascinated by the piece of cloth in his hands.

So _that's_ what turian underwear looked like.

"Why are you looking for your pants?" she asked, a light tinge of mockery in her tone.

"Well... To wear them!" he obviously answered.

"To wear them... in the shower?" she taunted.

He stopped in his tracks. She had a point there. There was no use putting on clothes now to undress less than a minute away from now.

"Hm. That's right."

Squatting over the pile of fabric, boots and clothes, he put one elbow on his knee to rub at his chin, idly frowning at nothing in particular.

She must have found the sight quite amusing, as he heard her snicker aloud at his primate-like stance.

"Then... I need pants for _after_ the shower, right?"

"Hm. I wouldn't know about that." she coyly responded.

He turned on his toes and craned his neck to the side to look at her. She was standing on the step, back against the wall, watching him with a strange air of bemuse exasperation. Then, pulling her hand from behind her back, she pretended to look at her talons.

"Where we're going after our little shower, I don't think we'll need clothes." she mused aloud, mandible slightly twitching against her jaw.

A pause.

"Oh."

 _Oh._

He suddenly felt very dense. And slightly excited at the prospect.

He sprung up like a coiled spring and skipped to the stairs in all his naked glory. He didn't have to force himself to smile this time as he was positively enjoying the whole situation and the fact that his tough stern turian girlfriend allowed herself to be snarky with him. She was waiting for him mid-steps, looking down athim with her air of alien haughtiness. She let out a content huff and turned to continue climbing, but kept still as he walked on the first step.

She was still watching him over her shoulder, a lively glint in her eye. He frowned slightly, having the distinct feeling that he was being played, and his eyes traveled naturally from her own, to the harsh ridged geography of her back bones and plates, down to her slender waist, and then down again.

To her toned, taut backside that was barring his way.

He snickered. Now she was _flaunting_ her assets.

And she even had the gall to slightly shake her hips side to side!

She knew that he always had a thing for her tight, supple behind. And she was now putting that knowledge – and his own attraction for this peculiar part of her turian body – to tease or taunt him.

And it was working.

He tried to skip the steps to reach her, fixated with the new idea, put his hand and knead her insolent bum, stomping over with gorilla-like grace. She let out a mirthful laugh and dashed to the top. In hot pursuit, he watched as she strided away to the second floor, making her delightful bum jiggle with each of her steps. He was so fixated on the exquisite movement of her rear end muscles that he missed the last step and threw himself off balance, sending him almost crashing on the hard floor. He cursed aloud, catching himself on a half-knee, half-elbow, and saw her spin on her heel to face him.

For a brief moment, she seemed to have been worried about his gauche fall, but soon enough her eyes squinted with mischievous intent, her mandibles jittering on her side as she quietly snickered to herself.

"Come here you!" he yelled, a happy, dopey smile on his face.

Pushing suddenly on his legs, he bolted in her direction, but his tall partner turned and ran just as quickly. She disappeared out of sight a few strides over, around the door leading to the shower room. Running around stark naked, like some kind of rampaging wild monkey, and hearing her hoot with joyful laughter as he rushed ever forward was doing wonder on his mood.

With a last bump of his shoulder against the narrow wall, he bounced back and bursted through the open doorway in the bathroom.

She was waiting for him with arms outstretched and a knowing smile, and he ran right into her ambush. In his final momentum, he deftly threw his arms around her waist to bring her close against him, and she did the same around his shoulders. He bumped his cheek against the hard plates of her chest and felt her belly press against his own. They spun around, embraced tightly against each other, and she let out a genuine, light-hearted giggle as she squeezed him right against her wide collarbone.

Then, as they slowly moved to a stop, he hugged her waist a little tighter and laid a kiss right on the hard ridge of her jugular notch. He felt her long fingers run upward along his nape, then gently brush against his hair to tenderly scratch at the back of his head.

"Oh no, dear me. You caught me." she coyly whispered.

"Hm hm hm!" he crooned in triumph, sliding the palm of his hands around her taut waist. "Was getting caught part of your plan?"

"Of course." she admitted, matter-of-factly, pinching his shoulder between her talons as his wandering hands rolled against the comforting firmness of her glutes.

"Well congratulations, you got yourself caught. Now what's the next step of your master plan?" he grinned, spreading his fingers as wide as possible to better knead and squeeze her delightful ample behind. Her skin was warm and firm, the muscles underneath slightly tensed at his touch.

She huffed and hummed in faked outrage, but she still swayed her hips slightly to follow the motions of his hands. He curled up his fingers, and from just the tip of them he began to playfully tap against her rear to make her tight rump quaver up and down. She caught his gaze and frowned, sighing at his antics, but seemed to not complain about his attention.

"Alright, had your fill now?" she gently admonished.

"I would never tire of playing with this." he answered with a boorish grin, giving her rump one last strong squeeze before relenting.

She tsked and gently pushed him away. "Now now, we're here to shower. Let me warm up the water before we hop in."

"A'ight."

She leaned forward and affectionately pushed her plated brow against his forehead before she broke their embrace and turned to the shower panes. As his eyes traveled from her tight rump to the bridge of her spine to better drink in her alien beauty, he then turned to observe the familiar environment of her shower room.

The narrow, box-like shower room was as clean and sterile looking as he remembered. Its walls were dark in color and made of stainless steel, lit up by a relaxing – if not dull – dark blue neon light. On one side rested the humdrum lavatory bowl, with its famous Council-approved universal seat design. Next to it was the wide, square sink, over which laid a tall mirror. Finally, on the opposite side, the double transparent panels that marked where the shower was located, with its drain, rectangular black shower head and the impressive collection of multi colored bottles, vials and phials that constituted a young turian woman's toiletries. Inside the shower, his tall turian lover was looking rather focused on the dull blue and red lights of the shower hydrant, her hand outstretched under the fine running stream of misty water that pearled around her arm and shoulder.

At first sight, the room felt cold and spartan, but he knew from first hand experiences the small secrets of her shower room. From the corner of his eye he caught the couple of tiny, gaudy stickers on her mirror : an angry looking one-eyed turian warrior with cartoonishly huge pauldrons and an oversized rocket launcher on his shoulder, and under it the sleek silhouette of a turian frigate, with three red stripes on its left wing. The villain and his ship, from a run-of-the-mill action flick that was somehow one of his turian lover's favorite.

They were his gifts to her in the first months of them being a thing. A stupid thing it was, in retrospect, to gift her what he won from the back of a box of chocolate cereal. But yet here they were, still decorating her mirror after all this time.

Somehow, he could not explain why, but the presence of those two little vignettes on her mirror reassured him. They were a link to a happier, calmer past.

"Water's good."

She hummed contently behind his back, stepping inside the steel cubicle from where a heavy, whirling mist was rising. Pulled out from his reverie, he quietly followed suit, sneaking in between the crammed glass pane and the blank wall, trying to carefully not bump against any of the colorful bottles lined at his feet.

"Ooh, oof, hot!" he gasped, surprised by the warmth of the pulverized water that prickled at his naked skin. Some things didn't seem to change at least : showers with her were always like this. A little too hot, a little too steamy, more sauna than shower. Maybe it was turian anatomy meaning hot water felt better on their tough skin, maybe it was just his lover's own preference for boiling baths to melt into, he did not know.

And he did not mind, even when she started giggling as his pantomime as he huffed and puffed, hopping on his feet as he got used to the hot steamy water. He was sharing a shower with his tall alien partner, and it was the comfort he needed most.

"Are you alright? Do you want me to lower the temperature?" she asked with a slight smile.

"No, s'fine, t'tally fine! Temperature super fine!" he lied through gritted teeth.

She let out an amused snort and turned to fiddle with the lights on the wall. Then, with a knowing squint, she shifted back to him to slide her arms around his waist and pull him close to her. He instinctively mirrored her, nudging her taut belly close against his, and pushed his cheek against the hard ridge of her wide collarbone. The powerful stream of water that was falling on them felt slightly tamer, less scalding, more comfortably hot. He felt her lean her neck forward and her flat, edged mouth gently push against the top of his head. He closed his eyes and exhaled deeply, finally relaxing in her gentle embrace, letting his muscles and bones get transfixed by the warm water. Then, slowly, he inhaled, held his breath, and exhaled again.

The steam was filling his lungs, and he was almost getting used to the torrid temperature. She turned her head and he felt her wide, rough mandible gently brush against his scalp as she squeezed her arms around his waist.

Nothing could beat being hugged by the woman one loves.

"Yeah, that's really fine." he muttered with a smile.

"Hm mh."

They gently rocked themselves from side to side, letting the water fall on their backs, washing away their sweat and grime... And hopefully their worries too.

However, somewhere at the back of his brain kept him from truly, really relaxing. Woe is a tenacious reef and an enduring foe. It is not so easily shaken, not even through this kind and warm embrace. It was maddening though. A thorn where he kept prickling his mind on. The fear of war and death would not shake away so easily.

And he could guess, from the way her posture was still so stiff and tense, that for all the tough and proud and assertive act she was showing to him, his lover was probably going through the same troublesome mindset.

They needed to make the most of their precious time together.

Because he knew that it would be short.

He slid his hands down her spine and hips to squeeze at her buttocks, finding comfort in the feeling of the firm and strong curve of her flesh. As if he could chase away the cloud of doubt that still overhang, he playfully kneaded and patted away, using her rear like some kind of mystical -and bountiful- drum.

She leaned away, glowering at him with her usual stern gaze, mandibles tightly shut along her jaw. Her mandibles twitched and she let out a giggling hum before frowning down on him in faked outrage.

"You really can't keep your hands away from there, can you?" she half-admonished.

He craned his neck up to look her in the eyes. Her beautiful, exotic eyes. She seemed to watch him expectantly, as if waiting for him to say his line. To answer with a quip, a joke or a comment about her rear, like he would usually do. She cocked her head on the side, mandibles yawning slightly open, seemingly perplexed by his non-reaction.

He smiled at her before straightening his legs and pushing on his toes, stretching his neck as forward as he could to catch her mouth with a kiss. He closed his eyes as his lips smooshed against the thin, edged line of her own. The wet, limestone-like texture of her mouth felt as refreshing as ever. She muffled a short surprised sigh that rolled behind his lips, and her arms squeezed around his waist. He slid his hand in the small of her back, pulling her lithe frame snugly against him. He pressed his head a little further, a little closer, to better feel the prickly fire of her breath, the softness of her kiss that took hold of his senses.

"I love you." he whispered against her, the words blending in smoke and mist.

A shiver travelled down his neck and spine. It was but a shallow kiss that caromed against the hard bone-like plates of her lips, but it was enough to soothe his mind and muffle his perception of time and space. She opened her eyes a few seconds after him, the triangle gap of her mouth still left slightly open from the surprise. Her eyes were looking down at him with affection, and somehow a little bit of longing, as if she expected the kiss to last longer. Under the palm of his hands, he felt her waist move, her balance change slightly as she let her weight rest on a single leg. Her poise softened, her shoulders slumped ever so slightly as her muscles relaxed... finally.

She always seemed so on edge, all the time alert and at the ready, ever since he woke up. Maybe even from when he saw her at the threshold of her apartment door. It was precious to at long last see her relax and soften.

Her mandibles twitched against her jaw, yawning slightly open before clicking shut with her mouth. The thin line of her lips curled into a smile that echoed in her eyes, but there was also something new in her expression. Something that has been revealed or unlocked somehow, that he was having trouble reading. Affection. Longing. Tiredness. Sadness.

She let out a short, quiet hum amidst the droning sound of the shower, and then her mandibles twitched again. It really looked like she was caught off guard by his sudden display of tenderness. Then, a slight frown of her brow plates, and she took him in his arms in a tight hug. His cheek pushed against the hard ridge of her collarbone and his chin scraped slightly against the jutting edge of her gorget-like sternum. She put her hand at the back of his head to pull him closer still, gently scratching at his nape as she began to gently sway her body back and forth. She squeezed her other arm strongly around his side, like one would do with a cuddly toy, and let out a soft giggling whimper.

Together, in this tight embrace, they slowly swayed to-and-fro. A shallow and mellow tango under the harsh pressurized mist of the shower.

He closed his eyes and breathed in deep against her wet neck, answering each and everyone of her squeezes with a few of his own and following her shuffling steps. The rushing water pearled across their skin, running and flowing freely over their form.

A part of him felt like this was a memory in the making, etching itself in his brain for years to come. Naked tenderness. A peaceful and precious moment, cathartic in essence.

"I love you too." she spoke softly, wringing his waist with her slender arms before breaking the embrace. She leaned slightly backward and shuffled her weight on her other thigh. A constellation of little beads of water studded her angular face, rolling over her smooth cheekbones and dripping down from the tip of her mandibles, pooling in the crucible formed by her bowl-like neck cage. Her green eyes looked at him with an inscrutable, almost distant expression. A mask of solemnity fell on her still face.

She was thinking about something.

Something that preoccupied her greatly.

He cocked his head askew and raised an eyebrow. Surely, it wasn't his surprise kiss that chipped at her trademark turianesque tranquility. He felt that she was getting eaten by her own thoughts and worries, as if she wanted to say something to him that was stuck in her throat.

"Are you okay?" he asked, gently pinching the taut skin of her waist between her fingertips.

His words took her out of her reverie and her eyes lit up. Thin cat-like black pupils becoming wide in her deep green irises. The small slit on the bridge of her nose opened sharply, and her mandibles clicked hard against her jaw.

"Huh? Yes, of course." she lied with a soft smile, curling her fingers against him and slightly scratching his skin.

"Hm."

He frowned and pursed his lips. Trying to read the expression on his partner's face. She let out a throaty chuckle at his intense staring action and moved her hand at the top of his head to suddenly roughly tussled at his short hair -and turn his head away from her face.

"Oi! What-"

She giggled again, catching his nose between her two long fingers and tugging it sharply toward her.

"Ow!"

He retaliated by pinching harshly at the exposed sensitive skin of her sides. She yelped and laughed, twisting her slender body to wriggle away from his onslaught.

"Ah! Ow! Stop, you're going to make me slip!" she pleaded, putting the palm of her hands over his torso to push and make some distance between them. He obeyed and let his hands fall and rest on the hard ridge of her flared hips.

"What was that about?" he asked with a slightly concerned frown.

"What was what?" she answered with an incredulous smile.

"You know! The hair ruffling, the nose pulling!..." He cleared his throat and squinted, a little knot forming in his stomach as he uttered "... The sad eyes."

She smiled again, mandibles tensely shut against her jaw. Her eyes laid upon his with a soft expression.

"The usual. Don't worry about it. We're not here to worry, are we?"

A rhetorical question. He felt that he should not push further.

"We're here to wash ourselves so that we can go back to bed together." she quickly added, matter-of-factly. "Back to fresh cuddling and snuggling."

He chuckled, surprised by her choice of words, and decided against contradicting his tall turian lover. He slid his hands back on her rear, back where he felt they belonged so well.

"Alright, fine. Let's **wash** then." he loudly exclaimed, with two gentle slaps on her tight behind to punctuate.

She sighed, lazily batted his hands away and turned to the side, squatting down to examine the rows of colorful bottles of body wash or shower gel. She picked up a pliable red tube from the line and held it out to him.

"Here, use this one."

He grabbed the tube from her hand and inspected it. On it was depicted a bountiful, glistening cluster of Sur'Kesh jungle berries. A relatively cheap brand of universal shower gel that promised to accommodate every body type and levo-based skin chemistry. Scientifically tested in prestigious Salarian laboratory to leave your skin healthy, clean and smelling like tropical sunset over the wild jungle canopy.

"Salarian shower gel?" he chuckled.

"It's the only soap I have for levo."

She rose on her legs with her own bottle of body wash in her hands. Hers was black and wide, with a striking lightning bolt and bold turian lettering on its side.

Somehow, hers looked strangely virile in her hands compared to his.

"It could have been worse." she said as she noticed his frown, "I could have picked up some Asari shampoo... _Although_..."

"Huh?"

"It would have done wonder for your _oh so sensitive, oh so soft_ levo skin." she teased, stiff and stone-faced. "Skin so delicate and fragile that they need some Thessian nenufar special care."

He chuckled, popping open the seal of the tube and producing a dollop of sparkled green gel on the palm of his hand.

"Yeah yeah, but you love it when _this soft and delicate_ levo-skin rubs against your _rough and rugged_ dextro shell, don't cha." he retorted with a grin.

"Hm. It's true. I do." she coyly admitted, energetically spreading a generous amount of soapy, blueish foam over her forearms. "Maybe I'll pick you something that gives you some of that _rough and rugged_ edge for that _soft and smooth_ skin of yours."

He snorted. It seemed like she was in high spirits after all. The Salarian wash felt invigorating, even if the mentholy, tutti frutti scent was a bit heady. A lightly perfumed froth was now covering both of their bodies, and a heap of bubbles was now amassing at the shower drain. The gentle atmosphere felt deliciously serene in this cramped, steamy steel box, amidst the droning sound of pulverized water. He rubbed and pinched at his neck and shoulder muscles, making a wide circling motion with his head to pop and free his sore vertebrae. He sighed heavily. Letting his body and mind soak and cleanse itself from exhaustion.

"Can you help me?" she asked.

"Hm? Sure. For what?"

"My back." she answered, "Can you give me a hand?"

"Yeah, what do you need me to do?"

"Here." She held out a strange square grey sponge to him. Picking it up, it felt supple and rough in his hand, like a mushy pumice stone with sandpaper texture over it. She then turned away, presenting her back to him and in a surprising display of flexibility bent her arm to thumb at her wide bone plates.

"Give me a good scrub there, please. I can't reach there easily..."

A little smile crept up on his face. He has done this before with her, in this very shower. As he began to rub the little abrasive sponge against her, he contemplated the beautiful and exotic architecture of her exoskeleton, at the way the jagged edge of spine blended with the wide flat plates of her back blades; how the curved lamellar-like rib-bones overlapped to accommodate the slow rhythm of her breathing... And of course, as he could not stop his eyes from wandering, how the taut and discreet musculature of her lower back stretched downward to form the magnificent curve of her buttocks. Her body was always a marvel to look at, one that would make him remember how otherworldly and alien her anatomy can be. The delicate way all those bones grew and interlocked around her body was nothing short of a wonder. His eyes followed the race of a few droplets that weaved in between the grooves of her plates.

A strange, far away memory bubbled back to his mind. An old extranet thing he saw once. A wannabe space poet that wrote that the turian skeleton was the work of a cosmic blacksmith, using the turian soul as kiln to forge their body in bones and metal around it.

He nodded to himself as he scratched at the narrow interstices of her backplates. Maybe that wannabe poet was in to something in the end.

After all, he for one deeply fell for the body and heart of the one he was now so carefully grooming.

"You want me to do your front too?" he asked, swiping along her spine in a long smooth motion.

"Oh. Sure." she answered, turning on her heels to face him again.

She presented her front to him and held her arms halfways up, hands just slightly over her shoulders, frozen in place in a somewhat awkward pose. She stood so stiffly on her long legs that water had begun to pool in her wide bowl-like neck and was now waterfalling over her breast. He grinned, trying his best to stifle a laugh at her adorable, almost comical pose, but he could not stop himself from snickering at this proud display of cosmic blacksmithing.

"What is it? What's so funny?" she questioned with a frown, her mandibles twitching nervously ajar.

"Nothing, Miss Citadel Presidium Cascade." he teased, pressing the small sponge tightly against the thin cleft of her sternum.

"Miss-? Huh?"

"Oh, sorry. Maybe you'd prefer Miss Rain-Catcher Chalice?"

"Huh?"

"You're catching on water standing around so stiff, you know ?"

"... I-. Hm. Tch."

In her eyes flashed a small glint of confused vexation before she rose her head upright. For a moment, she seemed to search for a retort, but she simply closed her eyes and turned her head away, exhaling loudly and conjuring up the allure of the proud of haughty turian that would definitely not admit she got teased by a primitive lifeform. He glanced at her face, recognizing the hint of a turian smile on her face. For all her high and mighty attitude, she did not budge nor relax from her awkward pose, allowing him to continue carefully working on grooming her thoracic plates. She was pretending to sulk, playing the princess while she was tended by him.

The least he could do was indulging her in this light game of back and forth.

"Aw, come on, love. Don't sulk." he chuckled, eyeing up at her "It's alright, innit?"

"Hush. Sponge me." she ordered without deigning to glimpse him.

He smiled and complied, running the small abrasive sponge along the length of her wide and round clavicle, racking his brain all the while to find a new way to tease her.

"Could you maybe bend forward a little bit? I can't reach..."

She opened one eye, glancing back at him with a wary expression.

"Yeah. I can't wash my face in your neck." he teased, grinning ear to ear.

"Bite me!" she quipped back with an exasperated sigh.

Yet, her remark made him stop in his track.

How did he not think about doing that before? It seemed... An oddly natural thing to do with a turian.

Would this be a good way to tease her later?

"Is that a Turian thing to say or..."

"Hm?"

"Would you like that?" he asked in all seriousness.

"What?"

"Biting."

Her arms relaxed slightly around her sides. It seemed that the question managed to break through her haughty composure.

"You mean..."

"Biting. As in... My teeth against your skin. Like you sometimes do with my ear or shoulder when we make l-"

"Oh. You're serious."

Her arms fell back to her hips and she looked back at him, giving him an incredulous look. Her mandibles fluttered slightly open, like they usually do when she's searching for her words. He had stopped sponging her to better look at her naked body, taking note of where her exposed skin would fit the best to experiment his novel idea.

"Why not? Ain't that a turian-thing ? Biting sounds like something turians would do between each other." He casually claimed with absolutely no proof.

"Do humans bite themselves for fun?" she asked in return, perplexed by his line of thought.

"Depends, innit? It can be used for playfulness, for... Huh... Asserting dominance or something like that. Some girls like it, some girls don't. Which one are you?"

"Do you want to bite me?" she quickly retorted, dismayed.

"Would you like me to?"

"I-... Huh..."

Now she was looking positively flustered. Part of him was quite happy to have managed to break her turianesque stiffness through teasing like this... And another part was also, somehow, genuinely curious about it. She seemed oddly concerned by such an innocent, out of the blue question... So maybe something about biting played an important part in turian dynamics?

"It's as you say, I guess. Some girls do. Some girls don't..." she mumbled, averting her eyes away from him and idly scratching at the right side of her neck.

He squinted, a victorious grin creeping up on his face as he instinctively made a mental note of the spot.

"So turian ladies like biting and being bitten..." he said, squinting hard and rubbing his chin between his fingers.

"What's with you and biting suddenly?" she gripped with a frown. "It's not like-"

"Hm?" he smiled victoriously.

She held her breath and stopped. Her gaze became fierce as she seemed to catch up with his game. Then, she straightened her back and held her head high, looking down at and towards him.

"It's not like your _puny_ teeth would leave much of a mark." she remarked, yawning her mandibles wide open to flash her dagger-like fangs to him. "And besides, it'd be hard for you to reach it in the first place."

He idly scratched at the cusp of his chin, monkeying around and playing the fool.

"Reach what, your neck?"

"My ne-"

Her word died down in her throat, and her eyes widened in the dawning realization that _she had been had_. For a moment, she looked fiercely angry, then desperately regretful... Then, her shoulders slumped, she closed her eyes and sighed before finally admitting defeat.

"If you must... Don't break your teeth on my plates, please"

Her neck then _._ That was the weakspot to remember for later.

Maybe he'll get to see her squirm delightfully again.

Sparkled by the thought, his imagination began to fill his mind with a rather lewd fantasy of sound and movement. A phantom image of her body under his, with his mouth against her neck. An image vivid enough that he felt a jolt pass through his manhood, slightly stirring his flesh from slumber.

Suddenly very aware of the natural reaction of his body to his meandering thoughts, he cleared his throat and tried to pull away from his tall lover. However, after giving a quick glance downward, she seemed to catch on to his sudden stiffness in posture and anatomy. She let out a quiet chuckle, shook her head from side to side, and gave him a sly smile.

"We'll have plenty of time for... _that_ later, dummy." she teasingly admonished. "Hold on until we're finished showering, alright?"

"Of course. Just can't wait to play the game of who bites who." he quipped back, trying his best to ignore the lascivious ideas that were blooming in his mind by shampooing his head with redoubled zeal.

She gave another theatrical sigh and turned to the colorful array of bottles and conditioners. Crouching down to inspect them, she closely reviewed the rows of tubes and flasks, and a stern frown soon began to fall over her face.

"Are you looking for something?" he asked, energetically rubbing bubbly foam under his armpits.

"Yes. I was sure I still had some left..."

"Huh?"

"I don't think a human would know." she mumbled, slightly frustrated, scratching her chin with her thumb talon. "It's a small red and white tube... It's... How to explain... Calcium cream."

"Calcium cream?"

"Yes, it's for my plates. To keep them young and healthy." she explained, matter-of-factly, "It's a turian thing."

He raised an eyebrow at the idea of a turian beauty product. His sense of curiosity was rustled by the mere concept of it. Questions began to bubble in his mind...

About the necessity of it all. And his inability to picture what an old version of a turian would actually look like.

"That doesn't make sense." he wondered aloud.

"Hm ?"

"There are _old_ turians?"

"Why yes. Like every species in this galaxy, there are indeed old turians."

"I can't believe it. What do they look like?" he added, only partly feigning ignorance for he could not tell the difference himself. "Your kind look like they've been chiseled out of stone, I can't believe you'd change much with age."

"What, every turian looks the same to you? Can't tell the difference between us? Can't win at the « _Name that turian »_ game?" she snapped back, making him fidget with his somehow specist admission.

"Uh, I just meant-"

"Idiot." she amicably shushed with a smile. "You'd notice if you knew where to look. Old people tend to have duller plates, all crackled over from the years. Brow plates droop and bend... Skin wrinkles around the eyes and neck... And most of them try to hide their back pain by stiffening up their waist as much as possible. Oh, and of course, their plates become more fragile and scratchy from the wear and tear."

He took a few moments to process what she told him, trying to recall some faces of other turians he crossed paths with. However, somehow, a part of him was still unconvinced that turians ever seemed to age. After coming to this revolutionary conclusion, he nodded to himself and turned his attention back to his lover.

"That's interesting. But you..."

"What is it?"

"You're _young_ and _healthy_ , innit ?"

"Thank you. I like to think I am."

"Then why would you need... Calcium? How does that even work?"

Her mandibles flexed against her jaw, droplets of water running along the edges of her mask-like face. After a brief silence, she turned her head towards him, letting her elbows rest on her long bent legs.

"What do you not understand? Can't a girl take care of her looks?" she asked, the tone of her voice taking on a teacherly hue, somewhat sullen. "It's about keeping my plates from becoming drab and brittle, to avoid the chip and wear that would make them harsh and rough. With it, my plates can stay supple and smooth to the touch."

A slight grin took shape on his face. The words supple and smooth were not necessarily the one he associated with _turian skin care,_ but the insight on his lover's coquettish side was an enjoyable experience.

"Huh... Then what was that about me lacking that _rough and rugged_ edge?" he teased her, "My bones' not soft enough for you?"

"Your _squishy_ all over, it's different." she retorted a deadpan face.

A goofy chortle escaped his throat at her quick wit.

"Tsah! Good one!"

She rose on her long legs to face him again, her svelte silhouette a good head or two taller than him, and leaned her body towards him. Then, she brought her hands to the top of his head, where she laid her fingers against his hair and began to gently knead at his scalp.

"All that fuss about my stuff when humans are the one with rows upon rows of _shampoo_." she said, her voice trailing over the last word as if reading an alien language, "For long hair, for short hair, or fragile hair with thirty vitamins and _sunshine_! I can never understand how it all works on that fur of yours."

"It's to keep it supple and smooth to the touch." he proclaimed with a smile.

"Oh. Now I understand." she answered with a discreet giggle.

She pressed her fingertips against the short fuzz of his buzzed hair before slowly moving her hands around the side, along his temple and ears. The palm of her hand formed a frame around his jaw, and she began to gently scratch and coil her fingers against the longer curls of his beard. He pushed his chin upward to let her play with his beard, his hands still lazily slathering his side and belly with what was left of the thin washing foam.

Then, he crossed his gaze and suddenly froze in place.

She was wearing an expression of melancholy, even as she was twirling a wet strand of his beard around her finger. For a brief moment, she seemed out of it, glum and distant.

A pang of inky worry blossomed in his heart, spreading along his nerves.

"What is it?" he asked.

The sound of her voice seemed to pull her back from her contemplative stare. Her mandibles twitched against her jaw before yawning open, the small slits over her nose grew wide as she breathed in deeply. She craned her head high, the thin line of her mouth curving into a big smile and a spark of liveliness shone bright in her eyes.

"Nothing. I was wondering what you would look like when you grow older." she said as she moved her hands to his nape and shoulders, her tone of voice oddly cheery "You know, when your skin will wrinkle all over like some ancient parchment, and your fur will turn grey or white, or reddish and white and... And fluffy all over. That's how you humans change when you age, right?"

There was pain in her voice. A great and dry bitterness that transpired in how hard she was clenching her mandibles against her jaw. He gently laid his hand on her waist, feeling how rigid and stiff her posture had become.

"It'd be fun to watch you grow older. I wonder how big that _beard_ of yours can grow. It's really nice to play with. I hope it will stay soft like this." she added, blabbering quickly and unfittingly, her gaze crossing over his features but averting his eyes. "It's easier to spot an old human than an old krogan, after all, don't you think?"

"Hey." he tried to interrupt.

"What, what is it?... You look worried. Is..." she said, without looking him in the eyes. Her mandibles quivered against her jaw for a brief moment, and she leaned back slightly away from him.

 _Don't run away now._ He thought to himself, but directed at her.

She fell silent, her head turned slightly away from him, her eyes fixed at a nondescript point on the transparent shower panel. The sound of her breathing barely pierced through the droning sound of pressurized water, but it felt so much louder to him. She swallowed back a sob and stiffened her shoulders, her fingers curling around the top of his shoulders.

His heart felt suddenly small and dry with a heavy feeling of guilt. He was finally making sense and noticing the strange character of her overly joyful and merry behavior. As if she was doubling down, laying it on thick with the tough tomboy cop act that was taking danger and distress in strides.

After all, it was always him that put on the theatrics of blind optimism.

During this strange, eerie moment of silence, the tall and proud woman he called his lover seemed so fragile. Her lithe, strong figure had become like a tower of glass. An icy spire threatening to crumble into the cold sea below.

It only took a moment for her mask to fall, but it was enough to crack it and let the _fear_ return in force.

"You're scared." he whispered, as tenderly and reassuringly as possible.

She closed her eyes and grimaced, mandibles squeezed tightly against her jaw. Her eyelids creased under her heavy brow, and her head flinched slightly away from him. He did not know if he read frustration or anger on her features, but her distress was as clear as the water raining and rolling across her mask-like visage.

"I am not scared." she breathed out through clenched teeth. "I am not. I will never."

Her fingers curled up on his shoulders, pinching his skin between her talons. Her brow fell ever further down her face, shadowing her gaze with her inner storm. He pressed the palm of his hand against her slender waist, feeling the strong, wiry tension of her muscles underneath.

"You know, it's alright to be sca-"

" **I am not.** " she chopped brutally, surprising him with the steel and furious tone of her voice. She then fell silent again, her face locked in an expression of terrible, shaking anger. He gulped hard and gently moved his arms around her flanks, to better brace and embrace her at this moment.

"Let go." he murmured, pulling her stiff body against his. "It's alright, innit. You ain't alone in this."

The sound of the shower was his only answer. She opened her eyes, but was still seemingly locked in an expression of thunderous fury. Her gaze was unfocused and distant, looking far away behind him, behind the shower, behind her flat, behind the space station.

To something deep and dark.

"Look here. Look at me. It's alright. I ain't leaving you." he whispered to her, soothing his voice and trying to get through her inner shell.

Her mandibles twitched and her eyes focused on him for a brief half second before escaping. She turned her eyes to the side, averting him and braced her arm over his nape, bringing his face right against the upper edge of her chest.

As much as she looked like a perfect picture of a naked warrior-goddess, he felt like her body felt like candlelight in his arms. Burning but wavering. Threatening to crumble inside. Was it her turian pride and fighter spirit that lead her to bottle up the unfathomable depths of her emotion? She seemed to handle powerlessness and despair the same way the same way he did:

Poorly.

It wrung his heart to see her like this.

"Look at me, c'mon." he tried again to no avail.

He frowned, and gambled on fighting fire by fire.

"You ain't scared. Alright, have it your way, but you ain't me, you know?" he said with a sterner tone. "I ain't trying to hurt you or make you say something you don't want, but keeping up pretending everything alright when it's not is not a good way to... Handle things. You don't have to be so guarded, you know, not with me, please."

She let out a barely audible hum, but kept squinting away from him.

Fight fire with fire. It would be a gamble to fan the flame of her anger flame but...

"I _know_ you." he slowly said, a wide acid grin on his frowning face. "I know you because I've fallen for you badly. _Very badly_. And I know that if my partner ain't scared she's sure as hell feeling something bad right now, and being all high and mighty and proud won't make any pain go away. So look it here at the strong turian lady, pretending to not feel anything about the coming end of the known world... 'cause she's hiding behind a _mask_."

Her eyes flashed back and locked with his. Two striking, burning emerald embers that knifed him with vast and thundering hatred in this very instant.

Fury incarnate... and a moment of disequilibrium.

"Got you to look."

He swiftly hooked his leg behind her own, in the nook formed by the long curved shinbone protruding from her shin. Then, with one arm securely braced against the small of her back, and the other moving to suddenly grab at the underside of her thigh, he suddenly applied motion to his trapped leg and hoisted her thigh with his arm, pulling against her back to force her to be unbalanced.

She may be a turian, heavy and steady on her feet, but even she couldn't find this common C-Sec close quarter combat technique. Something he learned from his turian training officer : _How to quickly subdue turian suspects using hand-to-hand combat._

Effectively, the sudden and contradictory motions made her unbalanced on her feet, and she started to fall backwards, her pulled thigh making her slip on the wet steely floor. She let out a panicked yelp when her long digitigrade legs skidded out, making her almost flip back against the wall. As she instinctively tried to hold on anything, he felt a teeth-grinding, white-sharp pain in his back as her taloned hand ploughed across his shoulder line.

Quick to react, he gathered his strength in the arm that was bearing her waist and tugged her to him. What resulted was a strange suspended moment where she was stopped mid-fall in a very awkward contortion, with both legs bent under his own, one hand scratching and digging across the shower wall and the other against his skin. In an instinctive and impressive display of suppleness, she arched her back far backward and bumped the back of her bowl-like neck bone against the wall, finally stabilizing herself and planting her dangling feet to the ground.

Her eyes darted to his face, and the sullen anger of her expression was replaced with wide eyes and flared nostrils, full of surprise and confusion. Something warm streamed down his spine, sprung from the searing pain across his shoulder blade. Swallowing back a pained groan, he locked his gaze inside her, trying to reach his tall stubborn lover deep within.

"I'll fall with you, alright? I won't let you go, idiot. Let go. Relax. Breathe. It's a'ight, innit?" he tried to give her a smile, but he only managed to grin through gritted teeth. "Nobody's invincible, not even you, you know?"

"Alright alright! Let me-...! I'll slip!" she yelped, squirming against him like a vexed cat.

"You won't slip! I got ya." he scoffed, pulling on his arm to try to straighten her back "Just... Listen. I'll-"

A flash of panic crossed her features when she started sliding ever so slowly down the wall. He tried to counterbalance the change of weight, but his awkward angle meant a very skewed center of gravity.

"You dumb idiot **monkey!** " she screamed at the top of her lungs, her left hand finding no purchase while it screeched down the steel wall. Then came the dire sound of her taloned feet scraping and slipping under him. The slow-motion fall then became a short and abrupt vertical tumble. She gracelessly fell on her rear and thighs, grunting and scratching all the way down, and he followed by plummeting right against her. His legs sweeped on the wet floor, still interlocked with her protubing shin bone, forcing his lower body to bend painfully on its side. His cheek scraped violently against her armored chest as well, and he could feel his wrist being painfully crushed under the angle of her hip-bone.

After finally registering the surprise and shock, they were left in a chaotic tangle of slippery bony plates and bruised, all grunting and grumbling. He groaned and pulled on a stuck arm, twisting his legs around to try to disentangle them from hers. Writhing around like two fish out of water, naked and covered in bubbly foam would probably look quite comical from an outside point of view, if it were not for the newfound prickling pain that bloomed across his skin.

"Ow." he grimaced, finally freeing his arm and leg after one final tug.

"What was -hrmpf- that all about...?" she mumbled, running her hand up and down her lower back, her voice more weary than angry, "What were you trying to accomplish..."

He grumbled, pinching the nape of his neck between his fingers "Huh. In my head my plan ran much smoother than this... Whole lot less hurting too."

"You probably are the-"

She gasped and froze as she laid her eyes on his face. A flash of fear shone in her gaze, and with a nervous flinch she scooted backward into a sitting position. Then, she carefully wrapped the palm of her hand around his jaw to turn it towards her. He could only guess from her worried expression -and the dull thudding pain in his cheek- that he may have bruised or cut open his face upon her chest.

"Oh no... You're bleeding." she softly said, thumbing the tip of his cheekbone with her talon. "Does it hurt?"

Her mandibles quivered in an adorable display of concern. He couldn't help but cock up a grin and attempt to play it cool.

"Nah. I'm alright. Nothing's broken. Besides-..."

She frowned, and let out another anxious drawn breath as her eyes focused on his shoulder. She winced at the sight, sliding her hand from his face to trail over the scratch.

"And your shoulder too! Oh no... I scratched you badly." she mumbled, her flanged voice taking the color of slight guilt.

"Bah. Don't worry about it." he boasted, turning his body sideways to rest more comfortably on her side. "I'm used to it at this point, it's alright. It's just a scratch and a bruise. Nothing's bad."

She didn't answer, but judging by the way her mandibles twitched and her brow rested heavily over her eye she did not feel reassured by his words.

"But... It must hurt. And you're bleeding. You could have... really hurt yourself."

"Don't worry about me, you lovable dolt. Maybe we humans are _squishy,_ like you said... And we bleed easily but it's fine. Totally fine." he followed, his voice full of cocky boastfulness. "But what about you? Everything okay? You don't hurt?"

"You idiot, I'm... Look, I don't want to think about how you could have... hurt yourself. What if you..." she trailed off, idly pinching off a particularly pointy ridge of her wide clavicular bone between her fingers.

For a brief moment, his mind briefly wandered to a worste-case scenario featuring a punctured throat over a jutting turian bone. Yet, the grim idea felt almost comical. He chuckled to himself, somewhat finding the irony of pricking himself upon his _spiky_ girlfriends' _stabby_ bits.

He buried the stinging echoes of pain deep down his mind to better focus on his lover. She was the one needing reassuring. She was the one that needed calm.

She needed to know he really got her.

"Look, see the bright side of it." he grinned, trundling his shoulder carefully to stretch and soothe his muscles, "I'll get some new scars. Scars with history. Like the other one you gave me, the _love scars_. And I know you turian ladies love scars."

"How can you possibly be _joking_ about it!" she admonished as she hugged his body tightly against hers, her voice now more angrily exasperated than truly panicked, "You're bleeding in my shower right now, look!"

She pointed to the drain, where a thin and light stream of red was weaving in the bubbles toward the steel drain.

"It's alright. It'll close in no time and I'll just have a bruise on my cheek." he kept snickering, trying to counter her overreaction by his old-school nonchalance. "It's not the first time we had that thing happen, innit?"

He would know, after all, and the half dozen of little thin scars that criss-crossed over his back could vouch for him. Engaging in any kind of heated or rough _corps-à-corps_ with a naked turian lady was a recipe for disaster. At least if one was not mindful of a few peculiar spikey bits and quirks...

Not that he minded.

She grumbled, frowned, and hugged him a little closer. With the adrenaline rush over, she took a deep breath and calmed down, and soon enough the same air of sullenness creeped over her features. He gave her a gentle smile and covered his hand over hers, interlocking with her long fingers.

"Why would you do such a... Brash. Idiotic thing." she muttered.

"I'm sorry," he said.

"Why would you do that? Why would you trip me like that?"

There was no anger in her voice, but instead a certain form of weariness.

"Why did I trip you?"

"Yes."

"Uh... It wasn't my aim to trip you. I wanted to... Hm."

He idly scratched at his wet beard, twisting a few strands of hair around his finger. He felt her shuffle behind his back as she straightened herself against the wall. Then, she laid one hand on his back to gently pull him toward her, guiding him to lay his back completely against her chest.

"I wanted to bring you to my level, and then kiss you. Basically." he continued, matter-of-factly, "Didn't totally go that route considering how we slipped all over the place."

She stayed silent for a few second, let out a long and heavy sigh.

"You could have just asked. Why would you do that to kiss me?" she sighed.

He mulled over what he wanted to say next, feeling strangely reluctant to give her this answer. His eyes trailed off to the other wall of the shower, covered in condensed droplets, and his mind to the droning sound of pulverized water that poured over two silent forms, spooning sadly under a warm shower.

 _Because you looked scary._ He thought to himself. _Just like that old little story about the oak and the reed. Because you were that oak in the storm._ _Because you looked like you could not fake it anymore. Because you looked like you were about to break. Because you looked like you were about to cry._

"Because I didn't want to see you cry." he solemnly said.

She let out a harsh, sardonic hum, like she usually did when she thought he was mocking her, and waited for his jab, for his tease.

It never came, and she knew he was serious, and she fell silent again.

"It's like... We've been together for quite a bit, even before we _got together._ And I'd like to think I know you." he began, now talking from a deep instinctual desire to lay upon her the weight of his thoughts. "I know how much you're a good cop. Conscientious. Devoted. A real workaholic that doesn't do things halfway done. A good shot too. Saved my hide a couple of times. Always was on my case about me not being passionate enough for the job. At least at the beginning. Eh."

He chuckled, but she didn't react much.

"You're patient and open-minded and all but... I also know who you are when you're _not_ a C-SEC good cop. How you can be sometimes aloof. How you can be grudging. How you can sometimes stop being patient and be both short-tempered and quick to anger. How you can be scary when you're angry too."

He frowned and cleared his throat. He didn't even feel like he was speaking anymore, the words kept rolling over his tongue, bursting free after being kept inside for so long. For too long surely. The sentences conjured up almost by themselves, redrawn from a canvas of memories with her in the center. He closed his eyes to better focus on the hazy portrait of her he was drawing inside his mind.

"You're strong on the inside and on the outside. A real iron lady. But I know you have a soft core because you let me see it. You're sensitive. You're a worrywart. You like cute things and big dumb action holos. But you've always been cool about it. All stoic-like. Always in control. Always with that kind of haughty elegant air of turian superiority. You're strong and you know it, or at least you want people to see it that way. Sometimes you are a little too solemn as well, but you hide it well. Back when we partnered, you were the cool stoic cop and I was the sloven loose one. But it felt natural, you know? Natural order of things. The turian's the cool one. The human's the loose one. At least that's how I saw it. You've always been the cooler one."

He chuckled merrily, but silence was her only answer. She was listening to him intently, keeping still behind his back, seemingly letting him run the river of his words to its end. Like she often did. Like she always did.

"That's why I think I know when you... Pretend." he sighed, letting the next flow of words join the rest under the misty shower water. "Between you and me, I feel like I was the happy, bumbling, optimistic idiot one. Always joking. Always teasing you... But _things_ happened, right? And nothing will ever be the same. Ever. And I stopped being bumbling and happy, like everybody else."

His tongue felt strangely too wide and too cumbersome. As if the mere memory of all that was lost and the despairing lack of hope was made manifest in that sour taste in his mouth. He began to speak a little slower, trying to feel the weight and importance behind every word he would choose to reach her.

"That's why I felt like... You were pretending. Like you put on a show of still being in control. Of being the same strong and unbending cop that is cool under fire. And at the same time you act like... Blindly optimistic. It felt like you were stealing some of my lines! Like as if everything is going to be a-ok and we'll grow old enough to see my beard turn white. That's what tipped me off. I felt like you were lying... to me or yourself. You're not perfect. You're not... an invincible beacon of strength. You told me about your chems, how you kept pushing your body to keep being that _trademarked cool turian cop_. Not afraid of anything. Except you're staring straight into a star and saying it's totally not burning your eyes. You can't keep going on like this. You told me that you already pushed your body too far just a few weeks ago... I just wanted to show or tell you to stop pushing your mind so hard as well."

He heard the clickety-clack of her mandibles quivering against her jaw. A barely audible, trembling hum escaped her throat, but she did not argue with him this time. Instead, she squeezed his body against her.

But the force behind her arm was both lacking and despairing. More like she was holding on to him than embracing him.

Behind him thundered a sound he would not expect to feel so terrifying.

A simple, sad _sniffle._

He had to be careful. To not uproot her beautiful, inspiring strength. It was an almost selfish kind of wish to keep her being that beacon of his. Maybe if he didn't want to see her cry was because he wouldn't be able to bear seeing even her fall to despair.

She was the stronger one, and he had to take care of her strength, to feed and nurture like one would feed a dying fire.

"Everyone is overtaken by what's happening. Everyone's affected in one way or the other. And it's alright because I know you. And I know you're strong enough to admit it. 'told you were the coolest one and it's the truth. I just want to... make yourself stop staring at that star so hard. To stop you from burning from inside-out from pretending everything's alright when it's not. Nobody's perfect, and that's alright, innit? Because I'm there for you to finally let go of some steam. To be your own worrywart self if you want or anything. Because I trust you. And because I love you so fucking much."

Too bad. His voice cracked into a high-pitched moan on that very last word, somehow robbing them of their grandiose. He didn't even expect to blurt out such a confession so easily. It felt like a waterfall of thoughts and memories overtaking him.

A real shower.

He cleared his throat, shuffled a bit on his rear to find a better position, and let his eyes idly focus on the swirling shower drain as the stream of consciousness trickled back through his mind.

"I don't know what's going to happen. But I know that if anything happens I want it to be with you. With us together. Because even in the face of the end of the world as we know it I'll keep trying to make you laugh and smile. Because I don't want to see you cry."

So, The mill stopped. The river ran dry. The words didn't came anymore and he was left feeling empty and slightly stupid, surprising even himself at how overly verbose yet composed he had become. He felt utterly drained. Unable to pinpoint the nature of a strange, dizzying emotion that was stirring under his skin.

"There. I think I said just about everything I had in my heart right about now." he mumbled, shoulders slumped, watching the last few soapy bubbles of foam disappear down the shower drain, amidst a thin dash of red blood.

"I simply asked you why you tripped me up..." she said with a low, soft voice.

"Huh. I'm sorry about that."

"No, don't be."

He felt her slightly shuffle behind him, leaning her upper body forward until she could push the flat of her nose at the back of his head. He felt a gentle, affectionate nuzzling rub before she turned her head to lay her cheek against his hair.

"There is a truth in what you said. It makes me sad, somehow." she followed, her tone slow and forlorn, "It's... painful to hear that truth. I want to say to you that you're wrong, that I am not blinding myself, that in this moment you have to keep going, keep strong for everyone's sake. But..."

She exhaled and paused. Then, after a small silence, took a deep breath before continuing.

"...But I have to keep stubbornly believing in this convenient lie. That we can still do something, anything to keep on going a little while longer. To keep holding on hope. Focus on the things that I think are worth protecting..."

Another pause, accompanied by a gentle, knowing nudging push of her nose against his scalp.

"You think I am scared, but I am not." she followed, a strange, longing smile in her voice, "At least that's what I keep telling myself. The truth is... a little simpler. I feel... Angry. Most of the time it's anger. Anger for a lot of things."

She recognized this strange, gentle way she was using to explain her anger. An icy and calm tone, yet still soft-spoken and gentle. A voice like cold iron, slowly being thawed by a deep, burning fury. He knew that was the voice she conjured when she was overwhelmed with her emotions, a crack in her attempt to bury her inner turmoil under the mask of stoic indifference.

"I'm angry at how **unfair** it is." she spat, squeezing him tightly against her, "Angry about Palaven falling. Angry about Earth falling. Angry about Cerberus cutting through the Citadel like hot plasma through snow. Angry about people I care about dying and having to keep going on, for everybody else's sake. Angry about all the misery building in the Wards and the Docks and having to keep standing guard like an unfeeling statue in front of empty embassies... Angry about, when we finally go try to do some good, we're confronted with apathy or hysteria. I'm angry about having to debate with other officers if we should let petty thieves and small fries prey on those refugees to focus on the _bigger picture._ And... And I can't bear hearing the Volus ambassadors cry behind locked doors anymore."

Her words flew like his did, free and unburdened by guilt. Her voice cracked on her last sentence, and it sounded to him like an iceberg snapping under its own weight. Her words gave him a chilling insight on what was truly gnawing at his lover's wellbeing.

"I'm sick and tired, and exhausted from having to do this _cold, ruthless calculus_ everyday. Because, in the end, you know... I am not a very good model Turian, not at all. I can only think about myself."

He frowned, suddenly confused at the turning nature of her words. He instinctively opened his mouth before he could think up any intelligent words, but before he could say anything she let out a bitter scoff, and her voice turned from glacial to shaking, weavering.

Crumbling from within.

"Because, in the end... I don't want to be alone. I want you. To be with you. Spend time with you and forget about everything else, like before. But it's just that. A delusion. A dream, right? Like staring at the sun. But what if the sun was the only thing worth staring at? Maybe it's true that I'm fooling myself, because I want to pretend we can be happy. Together."

She let out a wicked, desperate snicker that turned into a mad sob.

He could feel his heart being wrenched by her words, by her despair, by this pipe dream of a happy ending to all. A cold shiver ran over all of his body, and a strange sense of vertigo took hold of him. He felt dizzy. Adrift. Rocked and knocked around as if in a sea storm.

The water didn't feel warm on his skin anymore.

And he could only frown, his face stuck with an ugly, pained grin on his face.

"I'm sorry." he feebly mumbled, trying to resist the increasingly difficult urge to cry.

"Sorry for what?" she cackled behind him, "You're the one who unleashed total obliteration of all civilizations on a galactic scale? Don't be sorry, you imbecile. You're not at fault."

He grit his teeth. Somewhat feeling deeply guilty of not being able to do more for her. He was the one who snapped at her in the first place, barking at her like an angry hound about opening her eyes and lying to herself.

It turned out that her eyes were open the whole time. And she was stronger than him for not having bent under the weight of it all, like he did.

Behind him, her breath had gone ragged and wailing. Her fingers, interlocked with his, were shaking and squeezing too hard. He could feel the print of her mandible pushing against his head.

She was crying.

An intense chill transfixed his body, born of a feeling of shame and guilt. His throat felt eerily dry, and he could barely keep his lips from trembling.

"I'm sorry because I made you cry." he shuddered, giving in with the tears himself.

"It's unfair. It's just unfair to be robbed like that. I want more time." she followed, her usually low voice taking in a high, almost mewling tune. "I want more time to spend with you. I want to be able to look forward to getting drunk and laughing at stupid games with the squad. I want to go back to when we could spend an entire day doing nothing and not worrying, and just wake up to snuggle and... And... And me getting worried about those **feelings** I feel for you."

She ran her hard cheekbone against his head. Her intent was affectionate, but there was a despairing urgency to her rough motions.

"That's why you're an idiot if you think I'm not selfish." she added, her voice weak and hoarse, "Since I saw you there, standing in front of my door, popping out from out of nowhere, I wanted to grab you and keep you for myself. I didn't realize how much I missed you until faced with the possibility of seeing you go away. I didn't want to lose you again. To see you go not knowing if I'd ever see you again. I wanted you here so I could forget all of this. To keep that little hope from disappearing completely and... have a chance to be happy again. Maybe that's why you think I pretended to... be something I'm not. Maybe I did. But all I wanted was..."

She paused, let out a long, sobbing exhalation, and cleared her throat. He heard her swallow back a whining moan as she seemingly tried to calm her nerves.

For his part, he abandoned all delusions of control, and was left crying and sobbing in the cradle of her long arms. Tears mixing with pulverized water, all falling toward the metal drain in a shallow whirlpool.

"... I wanted to have a _fighting chance._ " she meekly whispered, "And being able to face up what comes next with you by my side. Like before..."

The note of despair that colored her words felt like a cold, sharp jab in his heart. He leaned forward, passed his hand over her bent knee for support, and quickly rotated on his heels to kneel face-to-face with her.

He never saw her so despondent. Her shoulders were sunk low, mandibles weakly trembling against her clenched jaw, and her round green eyes looked at him with a pained expression. Water rolled and dripped over her angular features, gathering in a shallow pool formed by her widened neck-bones. The shower made the trail of her tears invisible, but there was no doubt she was crying.

She sniffled and swallowed back a whimper, then watched him in silence as his own face crumpled into a twisted grimace of distress.

Gently, carefully, he leaned forward to clasp the side of her head in the palm of his hands. Locking his thumbs just behind the articulations of her mandibles, he pulled her ever so slowly to him until he could rest his forehead against her hard, plated brow. Now, eye to eye, he began to speak with a low, warm and smiling tone, hoping to placate the fear and sorrow that thundered through his lover.

"Hey hey hey. I'm here now, innit? And I'm not leaving you any time soon. We're together now, and I ain't quitting you."

He closed his eyes and affectionately rubbed his brow against hers, listening intently to the echoing sobs that she kept from leaving her lungs.

"It's like opening a wound to better look at it so you can better heal it, yes? What's hurting you and me is out here now, and just like the water it's going down the drain. We will find a way, you and me, together, just like you said, just like before." he whispered still, "Now nobody has to pretend anymore. Just need to... let go. Then I'll pick you up and dust you off like you do for me. And we'll think about something. Together. Yeah?"

She let out a strange sound, like a muffled whimper, and her hand swiftly slid over his shoulder to grasp behind his nape. As she pulled his head closer, he fell her warm breath over his chin, and he instinctively knew to purse where to find and connect with the thin sharp line of her lips.

The rushing water that still fell atop them made the kiss feel slick and wet, and the minty smell of her sporty body wash was overwhelming his senses. It was a modest shallow kiss, where lips simply laid atop lips, but there was a quiet sense of comfort in this gentle intimacy. Still, with the way her mandibles still clicked against her jaw and how her fingers curled nervously behind his head, he could feel the muffled desperation and tenseness of his lover.

After a few moments of stillness, she forged on ahead with warm intent, pushing and nibbling at his lips before breaking off and leaning her forehead against his, her wrists still interlinked over and around his shoulders. She breathed in, long and deep, with her eyes closed. She opened her eyes at the same time she exhaled, locking her gaze with his, and an ember of her resolute will kindled back to life. She let herself slide to hook behind her thighs and shuffled on her rear, scooting slightly away and nodding to her side as an invitation. He sat cross-legged beside her, on the cold wet steel floor of the shower, and leaned against the knobby carapace of her shoulder.

Looking at nothing in particular, he began to reflect and ponder in the quiet moment. It felt strange, and almost a little bit comical, to sit side by side with his alien lover like this. There was a slight, biting irony in trying to find a way to stave of the coming oblivion with his manhood flopped boorishly between his legs and his entire body smelling like a ripe salarian fruit salad. But at least now he could now shoulder the future with her.

"So. What's the plan?" she softly said.

He did not have a clear answer. His own original plan was a selfish one, to run away from the Citadel and find an empty rock to drown himself in cheap alcohol and await the final obliteration. A bitter frown fell upon his brow as he tried to think of something better than flat optimistic platitudes to tell her. He scratched at his cheek, rubbed his chin vigorously with the palm of his hand, but every plan he wanted to propose to her began the same exact way.

They would need to go far away from the Citadel.

"Would you go back to C-SEC with me?" she asked, turning her head towards him. "I could put in a good word with the Chief. Get you back on with the team."

Her mandibles clicked and opened slightly ajar. Her eyes darted quickly over his face. She seemed to still hold on dear the little security and order that the C-SEC would provide.

He frowned. To survive this whole thing, getting away from the center of attention of the entire galaxy would be the first step.

"No. I don't think that would be a good idea." he answered dourly, "We have been doing our best, but it's not enough. It won't be enough. With each planet that falls there will be a new wave of desperate refugees and people that will try to close their eyes and pretend everything will be alright."

He cleared his throat. The bitter taste of painful memories forming a knot in his throat.

"C-SEC has been stumped twice before. First with that Geth warship thingie a few years ago that waltzed straight to the Presidium Tower. Then with those white and gold murderers that came and went like they owned the place. Both times we did everything we could. Both times we were gutted and left to pick up the rubble and pretend everything's alright, pretend we're not living in on a giant space station we barely know about."

She was listening intently to him, solemn and silent. And so he continued, letting a little bit of the paranoid idea that bloomed in his mind in the last few days tinge his words.

"Even the Councillors barely know what to do anymore, and that's not counting on what happened to Udina." he grumbled, unwilling to conjure up in his memories the dire events that transpired during the Coup, "For all we know, the entire Citadel ain't the technological marvel that the Protheans built to be the center of their empire, but a giant death trap where you could reap all of the galaxy's leaders in one fell swoop and leave the entire galaxy in shambles... We've almost been had before, and I don't want to be on the frontline when the war will come knocking full force on the Citadel's door."

She turned away from him, an introspective look on her face. She probably thought about it. Like everyone at C-SEC did. But maybe she was still holding on to that turian hope of being able to make everything right by sheer discipline and will alone. Still, he found it strange that she was so silent. He expected her to argue with him, to try and convince him to fall back in the ranks and try to do something...

He wondered what she was thinking about.

"Have you ever been in a storm?" he asked her.

"Huh ?"

"A storm. Like on a planet. A typhoon. Hurricane. Blizzard. Anything like that?"

"Hm. Once. Back when I was doing my classes on an arid moon. A sandstorm rose and swept around our base for a couple of days." she answered.

"When I was a young lad, a giant typhoon passed over where I lived. Everything was pretty much flooded everywhere. A real big mess."

"What is your point?" she said, turning her head towards him, her mask-like face not showing any peculiar emotion. He took a long breath in, cleared his throat, and answered.

"My point is that when you're in a storm, you must dig in and brace... and wait it out. That's all there is to it. Prepare, dig in, brace and wait it out. Running around with guns, standing around guarding warehouses or embassies, or catching the looters that bolted away with fancy new holodecks won't do anything to stop the wind and rain or... snow or sand. Innit? That's for **after** the storm's over."

"Hm hm?"

"When you're in the middle of the storm, you're just left to wonder if everythin' will hold on and for how long it'll last. It has to take its course, and you can't do nothing about it except maybe dig in deeper..."

"What do you mean?" she asked, squinting at him, mandibles clicking softly against her jaw.

"I say, maybe those Protheans on that Ilos planet had the right idea. You saw the documentaries, right? All those rows and rows of casket-like things in those ruins. The biggest and best preserved Prothean ruin in the galaxy that was only discovered a few years ago, at a time we thought the Citadel was their greatest work yet. Somehow, I think they tried to weather a storm as well. Tried to dig in, brace, and wait it out. It didn't work out in the end for them but..."

He idly kept scratching at his dank beard, twirling the strands between his fingers as he was searching for the right words.

"It's like having some earth beneath your feet to dig a hole and hide would always be better than staying on a giant metal thing drifting in space."

He turned toward her, searching for the depth of her eyes.

"That's what I think we should try to do, you and me. Find a place to dig in and hide. Away from here, the Citadel and all that misery building up. Away from this death trap. With some earth or sand or snow beneath our feet to dig a hole and wait for the storm."

"Hm."

She looked at him with her usual stone-faced stern frown, but he could see in her eyes that she was thinking about his words, taking them into consideration, mulling them over...

"You think we would have more luck than those Protheans on Ilos?" she asked, a light color of caustic sarcasm in her flanged voice. He thought about it. There was probably no chance of surviving, yet...

"I don't know, but you asked me what would be my plan, and my plan would be to cozy up in a comfy cave at the far end of a forgotten rock and wait out the end of the world, bundled up with you in a warm blanket, with a hot cup of chocolate and coffee with it."

She let out a hoarse, mocking snort... Before quietly giggling to herself as she turned away from him.

A small smile crept up the corner of his lips, and he felt somehow proud of having managed to make her laugh in such a moment.

"You do realize that being in the turian military means we'd still be out doing exercises and sorties during sandstorms, blizzards and nearby solar eruptions?" she retorted with barely a concealed hint of smugness in her voice. "We would just change the routine to _how to locate and extract a wounded teammate during a sandstorm._ We would not be afraid of a little extreme conditions if people depended on us."

His smile faltered. _Damn those turians and their ruthless efficiency at being unreasonable,_ he thought to himself.

"But I see your point." she followed, "And even if I don't fully agree with it... I..."

Her mandibles flexed low and ajar, unveiling the row of her dagger-like fangs. Her eyes darted along the opposite wall, not focusing on anything in particular. Frustration was easily readable on her features. The words kept dying in her throat in indistinct, quiet grumbles.

"I may have thought about a plan." she whispered stiffly, her long fingers knitting nervously over her knees. "But I don't know if it would be any good."

She was eyeing his hand, and he instinctively understood to lend it to her. Her palm closed around his, and they stayed still for a while, their interlocked fingers laying on the wet floor between them. He did not dare say anything. This seemed like an important moment for her, one not to rush.

"Listen. Listen close. Because I **loathe** what I am about to tell you, and I'll probably only be able to say it once." she sighed, looking both distraught and guilty. "A few weeks ago, one of my old comrades from my service fireteam contacted me. He works for Armax Arsenal, and we talked a while and... we argued a lot too. He tried to convince me that there's a better place to make a difference than C-SEC. That it would be better to leave the deadlock situation on the Citadel altogether to work for Armax Arsenal... "

She paused, as if the mention of the famous turian weapon manufacturer corporation left a sour taste in her mouth.

"According to the information he was allowed to tell me, there's a lot of traffic going through the Annos Basin, through the Horsehead nebula. Something big is going on. Cargo ships full of high-end construction material going to and fro. Corporations lending most of their resources to shipyards and construction centers. They are recruiting en masse and..."

She turned her head to him. Her mask-like face was dour and stern, but he noticed the way her mandibles trembled softly around her steely features.

"There would be a way... for me... to join his security team at Armax Arsenal. Join the war effort in a small way. Away from here. Away from the team at C-SEC... Away from the Citadel..."

His throat felt eerily dry, and a creeping sense of dread spread tendrils across his spine. Despite her wording exactly what his heart desired, a true way out of the Citadel, it still felt like gambling on a unknown parameter.

But then again, it was a gamble worth taking.

Because she had it.

Her ticket out of the Citadel. Something to latch on outside of the colossal, cold station that kept closing its eyes on the war.

"Go for it." he said, squeezing her hand inside his, "Go for it without looking back."

"You don't understand, don't you?" she snapped back, leaning on her other arm to better face him, "Leaving the Citadel now... It would feel like deserting everyone left here! I'd leave the team when they need me to become some kind of... _corporate goon._ And... And-"

"No, luv', you have to let go of this line of thinking." he calmly answered, moving his hand to gently caress at the smooth, rugged curve of her cheek. "C-SEC alone won't be able to save the Citadel. You, yourself, won't be able to carry all of C-SEC on your shoulders. Think of it as a way to make an actual difference, just like you say, just like that friend of yours said."

"But-"

"It's really not like you to doubt like that, innit?" he said with a grin.

She fell silent, her heavy plated brow finally relaxed and her side mandible pushed slightly against the palm of his hand. Her gaze was still intimately locked with his own. He could see the doubt and apprehension in her deep green eyes.

He smiled at her and took a deep breath.

There was something important that he wanted to know...

"Besides, what I really want to ask you is... Is there a place for me on that way out?" he asked, trying to conceal his worry behind another crooked smile.

She blinked rapidly, as if surprised by his question. Then she frowned and let out an indignant huff. She looked at him like she would at a dumb, useless life-form. An entire palette of various degrees of scorn quickly crossed over her features, and his smile crumbled into a worried grimace.

"You're dense, aren't you? I'm asking you because I wouldn't be able to do this alone. I'll need you!" she emphasized, bringing her face so very close to his, "I'll need-... I want you to come with me. I- We'll find a way. I don't care if I have to smuggle you inside a turian torpedo, but I wouldn't be able to leave the Citadel if you're not with me. I need you, and I need you to... want to come with me."

Now he understood.

He was her push.

Her reason to be selfish.

A shame he missed his line. All he could do now was nod and quietly chuckle at his sightlessness.

"Alright. I got it. I told you before, dinn' I? I ain't leaving you anymore."

She closed her eyes and exhaled, leaning forward to bump her plated forehead against him.

"Good. That's good. At least now..."

Her shoulders shook, a strange, deep chortle escaped her lips.

"At least if _that_ goes wrong I'll be able to blame it on you."

"Pfhah!"

She had a way to surprise him with her own unexpected brand of humor. They shared a soft, gentle laugh together, forehead against forehead, as the water kept flowing over their skin. He opened his eyes to see that her face had become his entire world. A set of thin cat-like pupils was watching him attentively. The red streak of her markings making a beautiful contrast with the emerald green of her eyes.

She was warmth and comfort incarnate.

She leaned her head slightly on the side, half-closing her eyes and barely opening the thin line of her sharp lips to welcome a new kiss. His hand moved in the nook behind her mandible, pulling her closer...

However... Out of the blue came a sudden, horrible mechanical noise. A short, screeching horn-like note whose tone made him jump and his skin crawl.

 _What was that noise?_

He turned his head away from her, desperate to find the location of this sound that took him so by surprise.

Then, from out of the blue, came a light-hearted, overzealous synthetized asari voice.

"This is an automated forewarning ! You have used more than 80% of your monthly quota of – _HOT WATER HEATER – HYGIENE AND DOMESTIC USAGE._ Please be mindful of your consumption of - _WATER-_ during your stay on the Citadel. For more information on your local residential allowance, please refer to-"

"...ThankyouIknowdonotbothermewiththisagain." his tall turian lover speedily blurted out, drawing a beautiful arc with her fist to pound against the small black digital screen above her head.

"Thank you, have a nice day!"

She let out a weary sigh and let her hand fall back to her side. She threw a meek glance toward him, mandible clicking softly against her jaw. The romantic and gentle mood had been shattered, and both of them were left curled up and tense from the abrupt interruption.

"What was that horrible noise." he asked, "It's the first time I heard a house VI screech like this."

"I don't know why it started doing that. Maybe the speaker's inner electronics got fizzled when my place got wrecked..." she answered with a shrug, "...We should finish up here. We've been here long enough."

"A'ight."

She swung her body forward and rose on her long legs in an impressive display of flexibility and abdominal strength. She then threw her hands upward and tensed up her entire body in a feline-like long stretch, making her exoskeleton and spine crack and pop in a satisfying manner. She let out a satisfied hum, leaned backward to make her last vertebraes settle in, and turned towards him, lending her hand to boost him up.

He caught her extended arm, rose and stood beside her, and heard his bones play their own little chorus of crackling and popping. It felt good to be standing again. As he made a few circling motions to soothe his sore neck, she tapped on the digital black screen and silenced the shower stream.

"We'll talk about... what we should do later, alright? I still need to think." she said, facing him again, a somber glint of doubt making a shadow in her gaze.

"...A'ight. No problem. We can talk later." he answered with a reassuring smile, pressing his hand against her waist.

"Good."

Her mandibles clenched shut, droplets of water running along their edges to fall in rhythm inside her widened collar. Her matte skin and bone plates were shimmering nicely under the soft white light of the room.

She turned away and opened the clear panel of the shower, hopped over the small elevated buffer and skipped to the wide sink box on the far wall. There, she grabbed the lone crimson red towel that rested over it and unfurled it around her shoulder.

"Got the last one." she chirped, swaying her hips around in a cute tease. He joined her and leaned over the sink, examining his face in the mirror as she was vigorously ruffling the towel around her body.

Shoulder slumped, a clumpy wet beard and heavy dark rings around his eyes all contributed to make him look like a sad, mangy monkey. The small, thin scars that once criss-crossed his cheeks had healed nicely and were barely visible now, even if the memory of what caused them was still here, buried in his memory like an ugly jack-in-the-box. He gave a toothy smile to the twin brother that faced him in the mirror and watched as the grin grew wide and devilish. _You still got it,_ he quietly thought to himself. All in all, he wasn't looking _too_ terrible, especially with this sharp new buzz cut... or at least, he hoped so.

Maybe he could use a shave, at the bare minimum...

… He still hated shaving.

After drying up her thighs and legs, she hooked the red towel around her shoulder, like one would do with a royal mantle. Stone-faced, she looked at her reflection in the mirror gauging herself. She lifted her chin, straightened her back, flicked her mandible and shaped up to attention with practiced ease. From the corner of his eye, he saw her frown and squint before leaning in close. With the tip of her taloned finger, she traced over the wide streak of her markings, scratching at a spot on the side of her flat nose.

"Looks good to me." he told her, not seeing anything wrong with her facial markings.

"Hm... Maybe it's a little drab now." she mumbled, straightening herself to better examine her reflection.

He turned to the mirror to stare at their silhouettes, side by side. The two of them made quite the pair, dangerously close to the cliché buddy-cop duo of the tall stoic one having to put up with the smaller jokester partner.

And he wouldn't have it any other way.

"You're not bleeding anymore, but…" she whispered, glancing guiltily at his back "there will be a few marks."

"Don't ya worry about it. I'll just slap some medi-gel on them." he assured her, not feeling any kind of pain from her previous scratches. The water had probably played a role in making the wounds look worse than they truly were.

"What caused you to accuse me?" she asked nonchalantly, directing her question to his reflection.

"Huh?"

"When you said I was "scared". What caused you to think of that?"

"My beard. It's what you said about my beard." he answered, scratching at the culprit with a lazy gesture.

Her mandibles clenched shut and a frown fell upon her brow.

"What do you mean?"

"I suspected something was wrong when you complimented my beard." he followed, grinning at her, "You used to always hound me about it. Because most of the human officers were clean-shaven and it made me look _scruffy_ and _primitive_."

" _..._ I did?"

"Yeah. You stopped not _that_ long ago."

"Hm."

She looked back at his mirror image, fixing an inquisitorial gaze onto his face. Her mouth began to draw a small curve, accompanied by a meek mandible flick.

"Guess your beard grew on me. It looks... well... How to say."

"Oh?"

" _Fluffy?_ "

"Aww. I think my beard ain't the only thing that grew on you, eh?"

She let out an indignant snort and threw her towel at his face.

"Don't push your luck, dummy." she laughed.

He chuckled with her, wrapping the red cloth around his head. The soft fabric was slightly humid and soaked in the tangy smell of her sporty bodywash. Almost without thinking, he took a deep breath as he ruffled the towel through his beard, taking in his lung this heady perfume.

"I'll wait in the bedroom. Dry up well, alright? I don't want to sleep on dank sheets."

"Understood."

"Oh, and in case you forgot..."

Through a half-open eye, he saw her lean slightly to his side and swiftly slide her arm behind his back.

 _Smack_.

With a meaty clap the feeling of her hand came over his rear. She brought her mouth close to his ear, close enough to feel her hot breath fall straight to his core.

"I love you." she whispered with a teasing squeeze, barely brushing his lobe with the edge of her lips.

She laid her mouth upon his cheek and swiftly turned away, disappearing behind the closing bathroom door. Leaving the warm mark of her kiss and imprint of her hand like signatures in his mind.

All that was left in this narrow, steamy room, was a naked man, grinning ear to ear and frozen in place by the loving hex his tall alien girlfriend had lain upon him. Her overtly forward display of affection made him happy and slightly excited. For a welcome moment, dark and foreboding thoughts had been replaced by new, lascivious images.

He began to vigorously dry himself, looking forward to join again with the woman he loved in the cozy nest of her own bedroom, where so many good memories have been forged in the crucible of her bedsheets...

 _You still got it,_ he quietly thought to himself.


End file.
